Not Forgotten
by RogueAlly
Summary: Logan returns, only to find a stranger living in Rogue's body.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story was originally written as a round robin between myself and two other authors on the Wolverine and Rogue and Wolverine and Rogue Beta Yahoo!Group, posted to the Wolverine and Rogue Fanfiction Archive. Traffic has slowed there, and I know there are readers here who most likely haven't read this one. I tried to contact the other authors, Khaki and Charon, to arrange for all of us to post this here, but so far no luck. I'm posting this under my own username for now. Girls, if you're out there, let me know. I'm happy to give equal credit.**

**This will be posted in three-chapter installments since the original format was each of us would write every third chapter. That derailed quickly as schedules or muses interrupted, but I will leave an A/N at the top of each chapter to let you know which of us wrote it. This first chapter was written by Khaki.**

**And finally: Disclaimer – We don't own Marvel/Fox. It's very sad, but it's true. So we're not making any money from this. The characters are theirs, the idea ours.**

* * *

After five years of searching, five years of tracking down leads on a past he still barely knew, he was finally going home. 'Home.' In all his remembered life, he never thought he'd find a place he could call home. It'd taken some getting used to. The search for his past had helped him get away, given him time to do some serious thinking.

After five years of following lead after lead, he'd realized that it would probably take the rest of his future to discover all of his past. It was a price he realized he wasn't willing to pay. There was someone waiting for him. Someone who had his dogtags as well as his heart. She would be about 21 now, and he couldn't wait to see how the girl he had known had changed, becoming the woman he wanted to know.

He hadn't talked to her in years. Most of the leads had taken him out of the country or to out-of-the-way places without phones, he reasoned. Hell, who was he kidding? He'd been scared. That's right, just plain scared that if he talked to her, he wouldn't be able to stay away. He'd give up his search for the past and come running back to her. Of course, that's what he was doing now, but he didn't care. She was his future, dammit. It'd taken that long to get it through his thick metal skull that his past didn't matter if he didn't have her.

* * *

He arrived at the mansion in the early evening. He was surprised to find that even after so long, the security system was programmed to allow him entry.

Parking Cyke's motorcycle in front of the porch, Logan grabbed his duffle bag and hurried up the steps to the front door. He wondered whether he should knock or just walk in, when the door opened and the professor greeted him.

"Logan, welcome home."

"Good to be back, Chuck."

"If you have time, I'd like to discuss..."

Logan picked up her scent, different, but the same, all at once. "Later. I've got someone to say 'hi' to."

"Actually, we really need to discuss..." the professor began, but Logan left him to search out Marie. Her scent lead into the common room, but when he looked around at the teenagers and young adults, he couldn't see her. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, concentrating on finding her by scent alone. There she was, over to his right by the foosball table.

Opening his eyes, he was stunned to see the young woman playing with two of her peers. It wasn't Marie. She was about the same size, but her hair was bleach blonde and cropped short. He could smell the chemicals from here. Not only that, but she was wearing a tank top and shorts. Her scent was Marie, but her appearance was all wrong. Could she have gained control over her powers in the time he was gone?

"Marie," he called, walking over to the table. He knew she heard him, but she didn't respond to her name. Reaching her side, he touched her arm and looked into the face he'd been dreaming of for years as she turned to face him.

"Yes?" she asked, her voice calm, if slightly confused. Her face was the same, except for an old scar that ran from her forehead down to her chin on the right side.

"Marie? What happened?" he asked, reaching out to touch the scar. She flinched away from his familiarity.

"I think you've got me confused with someone else. My name's Carol."

"No, I'm not confused. Marie... Rogue, what happened to you."

At the use of her codename, recognition dawned on Marie's face.

'It's about time!' Logan thought, but his hope was dashed when she replied.

"Oh, you knew Rogue? I'm sorry no one told you, but she's dead."

SNIKT The claws were out without conscious thought. Marie wasn't dead; she was standing right in front of him. Why was she acting this way? Why didn't she recognize him?

"Logan," a deep male voice called to him from the hallway. The professor had caught up to him. "Are you ready to talk now?"

* * *

"What's going on? Why doesn't she recognize me? Why does she think her name is Carol? Why didn't you call me when this happened? What..."

"We didn't call you because you'd been gone for two years and didn't seem to care." Cyclops interrupted.

SNIKT

"Logan," Jean shouted, putting herself between her husband and the dangerous man. "Calm down."

"Calm down?!"

"Logan," Ororo cut in, her soothing, relaxed voice interrupting his ranting. "We're trying to answer your questions, if you'll just give us a chance."

Logan stopped his pacing to focus his attention on the professor. "Ok, Chuck, hit it."

"It happened about three years ago. Rogue was driving herself and a classmate, Carol Danvers, to the community college when they were broadsided by a drunk driver. They were both badly injured and rendered unconscious. Rogue was in her seatbelt, but Carol wasn't, and their skin touched. By the time rescue personnel arrived, Carol was dead. Rogue was in the hospital, unconscious for days, and when she woke up, she was Carol."

"It doesn't work like that. She keeps her own personality when she absorbs other people."

"Rogue never absorbed another person completely before. Also, her mutation went away."

"What?"

"Surely you noticed that Carol doesn't wear gloves. Her only mutations are the flying and strength that she had in her old body. Also, she doesn't have access to the other personalities Rogue absorbed prior to her."

"This isn't right. That's Marie in there."

"That's Carol in there. She's just in Marie's body."

"How do you know? Did you check her?"

"I did a surface scan, but Carol is reluctant to have a deeper psychic scan. I'm respecting her privacy."

"But what if Rogue is trapped in there and this Carol girl is controlling..."

"She's not. There's never been any indication of that."

"But what if she is?"

* * *

Marie was surrounded by darkness. It was warm and safe. She didn't have to think about how Logan'd left her, how he didn't come back after the accident, and how he didn't care about her at all. Carol had been angry. She'd wanted to live, while Marie was close to giving up. It had been so easy to just surrender. She hadn't regretted it, until she heard his deep, rich voice again, calling her name.

"Marie."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: By Charon**

* * *

"I understand your concern, Logan. However, having observed her for the past three years we have come to a unified decision."

Logan frowned at the Professor's tact.

"And you've never once questioned this unified decision?" Logan looked about the adults in the room. Jean bit her lip, but looked at him confidently. Behind her, Scott was nodding slowly. Logan wanted to slice away those looks. Confidence, utter trust in their decision... a complete faith that Marie was dead.

There was a moment there, and he hated himself for it, but he wondered if maybe they were right. Fuck the moral code of the telepaths, Marie would have made some emergence if she was there... they'd been watching her for three years. Three years.

He felt himself condemning her to a grave and howling into the darkness of the mind, but something stopped him.

Ororo Munroe stood on the other side of Xavier's desk. She'd been characteristically silent, nodding with Xavier's words. But when Logan, bitter and angry, had looked for the cold acceptance on her face he'd seen something else.

Doubt.

And the fact that someone there... just one person... wasn't as confident as Xavier had decided they should be, was enough to silence the internal fury.

Storm looked at him, jerking her face fully to meet his and he saw the doubt melt away to a detached expression. But it was too late, Logan broke a smile for her - the slightest affection he could dare in the room. Storm's eyes widened in panic, and she put her hands up and shook her head.

"No, Logan - we all-"

"Save it, 'Ro," he clipped.

He strutted past her, murmuring a thanks as the rest of the room wondered what had transpired.

* * *

He couldn't see her right away. It was too surreal, too confusing. Wolverine sensed Marie and Logan saw Carol.

He'd accepted Xavier's offer of a room, pettily smug at Scott's insistent protests. This way he could have more time to think, knowing there'd be plenty of time to act later and not wanting to mess that up at least. Carol - no, Marie - would be at dinner. He could watch her then, start feeling his way into her life, then her mind...

"So you'll be staying here a bit?" a slight, raven-haired woman asked as she peered in the doorway.

Logan sat on the bed, wrestling off his boots. He looked at her and tried to place the face, but the last time he had been here was brief and her scent only skated over the memories of that week.

"Yeah," he muttered and continued unknotting the straps.

The woman, a girl really, assumed she was welcome into the room and stood near the bed, holding out her hand.

"I'm Jubilee. You probably don't know me, but I'm a-" she choked then and Logan looked at her. The girl shook her head and smiled, "I was a friend of Rogue's."

Logan looked at her hand for a long moment, before putting his out and shaking firmly. Jubilee grinned in relief and sunk onto the bed next to him. She was introducing herself and telling him about the most recent events when he interrupted her.

"Where's she now?"

Jubilee was startled by the sudden growl and jittered on the bedspread. She wasn't sure what she expected, but knew conversation wasn't a big thing of his from Rogue's recollections.

"Uhh - Carol?" Jubilee questioned.

Jubilee realized that probably wasn't the most tactful thing to say, but his face was unreadable and his muscles weren't bristling with the words at least.

"Yeah... Carol," he stated softly.

"After the daily foosball victory, her and John went walking," Jubilee replied, drifting off as she tilted her head. She thought she'd heard someone hiss her name. Logan hadn't reacted so she dismissed it.

"Yeah - Carol and John have been getting real chummy lately and everyone's been wondering whether, ummm-"

Logan shot her a look, daring her to continue at her own risk, but she wasn't even looking at him. Her brow was furrowed and her head cocked. He wondered if that had anything to do with the person outside the door, who would occaisonally pop her head around the corner and hiss Jubilee's name.

"You might as well come in," Logan called to the door.

Jubilee looked puzzled, before another young woman entered hesitantly. Her face was flushed with embarrassment and Kitty was inwardly berating herself.

"Uhh - hi," Kitty smiled anxiously before taking a step back.

"Hey Kits! I told you he wouldn't bite," Jubilee leapt up, stopping her friend from escaping.

"Let me guess - another friend of Rogue's?" Logan queried. Kitty smiled her affirmation.

"And Carol's," she added.

"Well, it's great to meet you Kitty. And it's been a real pleasure. But would you two mind getting the fuck out of my room?" Logan growled and herded them to the door. Jubilee pulled a face and muttered something about Rogue being right. Kitty and Jubilee were both pushed roughly into the corridor, where Jubilee continued grumbling at the indignity of it all and how everything had been fine 'til Kitty had rocked along.

He fixed one palm onto the door to close it, but Kitty stood there and stared at him.

"What?" his voice was laced with angry boredom.

"How long do you think someone can survive alone?" Kitty asked. A metre away Jubilee was pulling at her clothes, oblivious to her friend's words. But Logan's ears picked up every word.

"With nothing but their thoughts and their mind, nothing but themselves... How long can they stay sane?" she whispered.

"From personal experience?" he retorted. Kitty's eyes widened, oblivious to the Wolverine's very way of life.

"Longer than three years."

And he slammed the door.

Inches of mahogany can keep out most voices, especially when murmured, but Logan could swear he heard as she and Jubilee walked away... 'I hope.'

SNIKT Logan's claws bit into the door, before he retracted them. A few moments later he was basking under forgiving fingers of water, washing away so many years of wandering and wondering how to reach Marie.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: By Ally**

* * *

She had felt so safe, wrapped up in layers. Not that it was an unusual feeling. She was vaguely aware that she had been covered by something for many years.

But since hearing that voice, that name, the layers didn't seem so protective anymore. Instead, they seemed almost restrictive, as if someone-Carol, that was her name, sometimes it was so hard to remember anything-was keeping her from returning.

Returning? To what? Where had she gone? She hardly even knew who she was anymore. All she knew was that the name she had hers was part of her, more a part of her than anything she had felt, through Carol, in a long time.

And, within the part of Rogue's mind that was Marie, a familiar presence began to stir as well.

* * *

He lay on his back, the mattress supporting him with just the amount of firmness he needed. And, damn it, he didn't like it. It was too comfortable, too much of a reminder of what he could have had, if he'd returned sooner. If he'd maybe visited once...four years ago…even three and a half years ago...

Logan couldn't help but wonder if it might have been different then. If his coming back to this place even a couple times would have made Marie fight harder to keep the dominant place in her mind. Would it have given her the will to survive?

That sounded too arrogant to him. More like something Mr. Fearless Leader would have thought up. Nah, even though he couldn't get that girl off his mind for five years, couldn't ignore the image of big brown eyes framed by two white streaks of hair no matter how hard he tried, she'd probably gotten over that "crush" Jean had mentioned a long time ago. Long before the accident.

Definitely.

So why did the thought that he could have changed things keep surfacing?


	4. Chapter 4

**By Khaki**

* * *

The next morning, Carol sat in silent contemplation over her soggy Frosted Flakes. If Jubilee and Kitty noticed her pensive mood, they gave no indication, chattering away about boys and college as usual.

'It's not fair. After all this time, after finally getting everyone to accept that Rogue is gone, he has to come back.' she fumed to herself. All the suspicious glances and sad looks that she had received in the year after the accident came back in full force. She wouldn't endure that again.

Last night, she had quizzed John on the mysterious man that knew Rogue, and he had filled her in on how he'd saved Rogue's life years ago. So this was the man Rogue had been pining over in all the months Carol had known her. He wasn't so great. In fact he was kind of scary.

His gaze had been so intense last night when she'd told him Rogue had died. The claws that sprung from his hands were startling, but even more frightening was the quiet recognition that dawned within her. She didn't know this man, had never met him, and the only explanation for the hints of feeling was that Rogue was still hiding in her head somewhere.

'No,' she yelled deep inside. 'You didn't want to live, remember? You were driving. It was your fault. You touched me. You killed me. I had every right to do what I did.'

"Logan!" Jubilee's voice interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up to see her friend waving the new guy over to their table.

He came over and sat right in front of her, setting his breakfast tray down. "Hey."

"Hey," Carol responded. Suddenly needing something to do, she picked up her spoon and ate some cereal. The sweet, soup-like substance of Frosted Flakes left in milk way too long almost made her choke. She forced it down with some effort, but looking at the remains of the food in her bowl, decided that breakfast was over.

"See you guys later," she said as she got up and left.

* * *

Jubilee watched her friend leave. She didn't blame her for giving up on the remains of her breakfast, but as she turned and saw Logan watching Carol, she felt she had to say something.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You'll see her around later."

"How bad was she injured?"

The unexpected leap in the conversation startled Jubilee. "What?"

"In the accident. I saw the scar on her face last night, but there's a long scar down the back of her right arm that I didn't catch. Also, she's walking with a slight limp."

"It was bad. She broke both her legs and her pelvis. She was in a body cast for a month and a half, and then she had to get physical therapy to walk again. I think they removed her spleen and a kidney. Is that right Kits?"

"Huh, what?" Kitty said, turning from her conversation with Bobby.

"Carol's accident. She lost her spleen and a kidney, right?"

"Actually, I think she just injured her kidney, but the spleen's gone, yeah." Kitty said, turning back to her discussion.

"Yeah, and then she's had some plastic surgery for the scar on her face."

"That's after plastic surgery."

"Oh, yeah. You shoulda seen her before. It was a 1/2 inch wide gaping scar."

Seeing Logan's guilt fall across his features and hearing his mumbled, "I shoulda been here," was more than Jubes could take.

"Hey, she's better now. Limps don't slow ya down when you can fly, and I'd bet she's stronger than you, now."

"Yeah, but she's not Marie."


	5. Chapter 5

**By Charon**

* * *

_I'll weave you a blanket of dreams  
I'll take your hand in mine.._.

Marie felt the familiar strains of a song echo through her. She felt the melody vibrating into her chest and tightening her throat, as her mind unravelled the words.

_Can you hear the stars shatter?  
Can you see the wind dancing?_

She knew in some part of her that it wasn't a voice she knew... but someone Logan had known once. It was comforting, feeling the pure emotion of the song, knowing he had felt so much for the singer. Rogue reached out to feel it more but it ghosted away from her mind.

"Make it come back," she whispered, turning to the shadow by her.

"It doesn't work that way, Marie."

Marie was startled. His voice was so clear, clearer than it had been in so many years. Clearer than had she heard his gruff voice with her ears, in that tangible world out there.

"It's beautiful," she stated sadly. And it was, to her. She remembered humming the tune in the weeks after he'd left. It was strange that his mind had led her there when she was in pain, but she knew it was part of his pain too. It was comfort and warmth and family.

"How do I get it back?" she asked the shadow.

For a moment a face shuddered into view, roughly smiling before it melted away, "Tunes flow forward, Marie, never back."

She felt her body bristle... dreams trapped within dreams... she shook her discarnate head. The layers of black surrounded her. It splintered with a red voice suddenly, ploughing her down. Ordering her to stay, to back away away from consciousness.

Marie felt Carol's fear reining her in and quickening the bonds. She was too weak now and too unpracticed. Carol's mind had ruled this body too long.

The red changed, flowing into violets, then dimming to black. Carol was strong, too strong for her to reclaim this body. But Marie could wait, she could gain her strength. If she could find a reason to, the young woman reminded herself.

It's so hard to be strong, trapped within yourself... alone.

* * *

Carol steeled her body against the punching bag as she flung her fist into it. A normal exercise bag would've flown apart, but at Xavier's school, everyone's 'gifts' were taken into account. The titanium mesh grated along her fingers as the cloth covering once again wore through. Carol held her hand down and examined the damage. Served her right for forgetting punching gloves, she scolded herself.

Usually she didn't let details like that go unnoticed, but she'd been thrown by the events this morning. Okay... not exactly events, she admitted. Logan had yet to actually do anything to her. She hadn't even given him a chance to look at her askew. But she knew it was coming soon. John had told her enough to know this man wasn't one who cared easily. For whatever reason he'd chosen to glom onto Marie and save her life rather spectacularly. Consequently, Carol knew he'd be harder than the others to convince.

"You should wear gloves," a voice grunted.

Carol snapped around, shocked. She hadn't heard a thing. A shiver traveled down her body, but she suppressed it. Wiping a hand across her face, she removed the blonde strands from her eyes.

"Logan, right?"

He nodded slowly. He was standing in the middle of the gym room, just staring at her quietly. His body was hard, outlined by a haphazard mixture of rough and soft clothes. His eyes seemed harder as they penetrated her.

"Did you want something?" she challenged. Damn, this was happening too fast...

"Keep your elbow in," he stated.

Carol looked confused for a moment, before she realized he was giving her advice... on how to punch. Carol pulled at her training leotard edgily. His eyes shot to her hand, following her movement intensely. Heat shot to her face and Carol stepped back. She dismissed her reaction and walked to the side of the hall, trying on several gloves before she found a suitable set.

"Shouldn't you be at school, or college or something?" he finally asked.

"It's Saturday," Carol replied.

She walked back to the punching bag. He still hadn't moved and it was cutting into her nerves.

"Look, there're security cameras and..." she bit her lip, "Just don't try anything."

Logan chuckled suddenly, as though the suggestion was completely ludicrous and Carol realized she had no idea who she was dealing with. But then again, he didn't either. She was strong, stronger than anyone she knew. And she could fly. And she wasn't the girl he knew. Hell, he didn't know her at all. The realization gave her a burst of assurance.

"Keep your elbow in," was all he said after the pause grew awkward. Carol punched into the bag again, keeping her elbow held well in. Logan was about to comment but was interrupted.

The door flipped open and Jubilee skipped in. Her exercise bag was slung over her shoulder and she was laughing as she talked to Kitty and Bobby, who followed close behind. They all stopped, looking suspiciously at the scene before them.

Logan looked at her sharply before turning and leaving, strutting past the others. Carol felt her knees go shaky and she turned back to the punching bag, flinging another punch into it, her elbow thrust wide out into the air as she followed through.

She felt odd, jangling with confusion, fear and anger.

Jubilee had caught up with her and placed a hand lightly onto her shoulder in a comforting gesture. As Jubilee's fingers brushed onto the bare skin of her arm, Carol felt herself immediately lurch away from it.

"Don't touch -" she snapped her mouth shut. Her voice had been frantic with fear for Jubilee.

No! This is mine now! Carol yelled inside herself. But something had changed in that moment.

One of the chains had snapped.

* * *

Logan couldn't help himself smiling at the camera as he walked past it. A thought occurred to him and he wondered how long they kept those tapes... Probably not for years, probably not even weeks, but he could wonder. Maybe Marie had practiced there often...

During one of his calls to Xavier, not too long after his departure, the professor had said she was learning how to fight. Of course, he'd said Scott was teaching her, so he couldn't blame her if her technique sucked.

For the moment, he had things to do, people to interrogate... And a careful front to maintain. If Scott suspected too much... No - Scott was already a lost cause. But if Xavier caught on to what he was planning... he'd be out on his hairy ass in a moment.

Logan walked up to his room, replaying the scene in the gym. It had been an impulse at the time and he'd tracked her scent there. The hair was all wrong, and the gestures foreign, but there was still so much of Marie there. The rhythm of her breath and heart, the smallest muscle twitches... all the little things that a body picks up on its own without the conscious mind controlling.

She'd been breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling shakily through lycra, as he stared her down. Sure she'd been caught unaware and next time it would be harder to intimidate her. Of course, next time, his tactics would be completely different. Keep her on her toes, he smirked.

Even so... he had a feeling that even that pale façade of courage would have evaporated, had she known the complete truth.

That moment was only just the beginning...

He was stalking her.


	6. Chapter 6

**By Ally**

* * *

Marie sat enfolded in the darkness which no longer frightened her. For the moment it was her haven, the place where she could plan her next moves in taking back what she hoped she deserved.

His voice, coming to her from the real world, had revitalized her. He was back. He knew what had happened, and he wasn't leaving. It was enough to make her pick up the hope she'd thrown to the side two years before. It was enough to make her want to live again.

So she plotted to break the bonds Carol's mind had placed on her. One link at a time. That's all it would take. Soon, her chains might even shatter. She could only pray to whatever power was out there that her mind would be strong enough to take back control of her body.

* * *

"Logan, we need your help," Storm said from the doorway to his room.

He looked up from where he was smoking a cigar and reading a book on his bed. He smirked like he knew she expected him to and asked, "You sure you want an old guy like me to help out the team?"

"You've done it before. You can do it again. And we need your abilities specifically," Storm told him, still not attempting to cross the threshold into his room. Maybe she remembered the last, and only, time she had, five years ago when Marie had woken him up from a nightmare...

He'd let his mind wander in her direction again. He couldn't keep doing that if he was going to keep everyone's suspicions at bay.

"What, you need me to heal up super fast?" Logan asked sarcastically.

"No. We need your tracking abilities. You're the one who is always bragging about them," Storm said with her unique touch of sarcasm and irony.

"Yeah, well...what's the 'mission' this time?" he asked, knowing she was right and this was the perfect chance to show the X-Men how valuable he could be.

All to keep him near her. Damn, he hoped that Marie would appreciate this. Whenever she came back from wherever she had to be, that is.

"Come to the conference room," Storm instructed, already turning to leave.

He followed her out and down the hall.

* * *

Carol fidgeted with her leather gloves, wondering what was keeping Storm, the only member of the X-Men who wasn't at the table, ready and waiting in their black leather. She sighed and brushed a piece of her hair off her forehead, concentrating on the blond color. Blond, she was blond. Carol was blond. She was Carol.

It was like a mantra that she had begun to say to herself whenever she felt the control slip just that little bit that meant Marie was resisting her. It wouldn't do to yell in her mind again, what with Jean and the Professor only a few feet away. Later, she and Marie would have to have it out again. Carol hated the necessity of it. Why couldn't Marie just have died two years ago and let Carol reign over the body in peace? Why couldn't she have faded more in the intervening time?

The door to the conference room opened and not one, but two people walked in. Logan followed Storm in and shut the door quietly. He never even looked in her direction, but he did seem surprised to see the four extra faces which had joined the group since he left. He took it all in stride though, Carol had to give him some grudging respect for that. He just sat down in the chair the Professor indicated and nodded to the murmured greetings.

"Logan is going to be accompanying you on this mission," the Professor said calmly. "Your success may depend on his tracking skills. Remember that, and pay attention to him. Now, Scott, would you like to outline what has occurred for Logan's benefit, please?"

"Of course. There is a group of mutant haters known around here as Humanity First. They've recently begun to become pretty violent in their attempts to 'rid the world of the mutant scum' as they so beautifully put it. They captured two mutants who are important members of the Professor's information chain in Pennsylvania and disappeared with them. That was two nights ago. We only just heard about it because these mutants were two of only five in their area and were very reclusive. Now we've got to find them," Scott stated.

Logan was nodding, and Carol could feel the panic begin to rise up in her. He wasn't supposed to come along on missions like this! He wasn't even an X-Man! He did seem to be able to get into the groove of things pretty quickly, though. He was already asking Scott about strategy and such as the entire group stood up and started to head down to the lower levels.

It just wasn't right, Carol thought bitterly. Couldn't he leave, leave the mansion and leave her alone?

No, said a voice deep inside her.

And Carol began to quake inside.

The voice had been Marie's.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapters, but they do get a bit longer as we go on!**


	7. Chapter 7

**By Ally (Like I said, that every-third-chapter thing derailed pretty quickly!)**

* * *

Jubilee and Bobby kept up steady banter on the Blackbird in a too-obvious effort to diffuse the tension which radiated from Carol and Logan. They finally stopped when Jean shot them an irritated look, unusual for her, and the plane descended into silence.

Logan wanted to smirk at the discomfort he was causing, but he held himself in check for once. It wouldn't do his cause any good to set the rest of the X-Men against him. He needed to stay around to get his Marie back.

Finally Scott set the Blackbird down on a rocky ledge on the side of a low mountain. He turned in his seat and said, "The mutants we need to track were last seen two miles from here. Let's get moving." Logan stood first and exited through the open hatchway. The rest of the team followed. Logan could smell the resentment oozing off of Carol, and that made him even more pleased. She didn't like him. She shouldn't.

"You got a way for me to identify their scent, Cyke?" Logan growled out. He accepted the piece of clothing Scott handed him and sniffed it. Whew. Not something he'd normally want to come into contact with, but efficient enough. That pungent smell couldn't belong to too many people. Finding them wouldn't be too hard at all.

* * *

Logan was regretting his earlier confidence as he and the X-Men wound their way through hundreds of trees in the godforsaken wilderness that called itself part of a civilized state like Pennsylvania. The scent was more elusive than he had counted on, and he assumed that whomever had taken the pair of mutants had thought of being followed and done their best to make it difficult for pursuers.

"Have you picked up a clear trail yet, Logan?" Scott asked impatiently from his left.

"I'm workin' on it. You try picking up a three-day-old trail usin' nothing other than a dirty old sock!" he growled out with equal measures of hostility and frustration.

At that moment he detected again the odd mixture of sweat and a deep musk which clung to the sock he clutched in his hand. He turned his head in the direction which the wind had carried the scent from, his nostrils flaring.

"West," he directed tersely before heading that way himself, already lost in the chase. It was strong now, stronger than it had been for the last hour that the X-Men had been straggling through the woods.

The scent led them to a large, run down barn which looked to be completely abandoned at first. Logan's sensitive nose told him otherwise, though. The smells here were fresh, less than an hour old, and their owners had been tracking through for the past few days, too.

"I'll take it from here," Scott whispered harshly.

Logan wanted to argue with him. He always wanted to argue with Cyke. But he didn't. Instead, he dropped to the back of the group and decided to watch events unfold. This was only his second mission, after all. He might be a terrific cage fighter, but this was something else altogether. Very unfamiliar territory that he wasn't just going to barge into.

Scott led them up a dirt path and into the apparently deserted barn. They fanned out, searching through the moldy stalls filled with decaying hay for any sign of the missing mutants.

Bright lights suddenly filled the large complex, and figures in dark green-probably to differentiate themselves from the X-Men who were known for their black uniforms-came pouring into the building. The X-Men went on the defensive, trying to gather together so that they could fight back to back, in pairs or small groups.

Logan managed to fight his way over to where Carol and Jubilee were ably defending themselves, claws ripping into anyone who got in his way. The mind might not be Marie's at the moment, but the body was, and he wasn't about to let Carol damage it with any damn foolishness if he could help it.

He reached the two girls in time to see two of the green-clad thugs grab Carol and twist her arms painfully behind her. Despite what the Professor had told him about Carol's abilities including superstrength and invulnerability, it didn't look to Logan as if they were doing her any good at the moment. She screamed, and Logan could hear the muscle and bone tear as another thug reached down and twisted her legs hard, tying some kind of device around them.

Logan shouted and jumped the man tying Carol's legs, shredding his back with fully extended claws. He growled and went for the two holding her, sinking nine inches of adamantium into their necks and slicing through the meat and bone there.

Carol stumbled free and fell. At the same time Scott yelled from somewhere to Logan's left, "Let's get out of here!"

The X-Men all began to obey, fighting their way to the only exit. Logan didn't hesitate and instant before reaching down and picking Carol's broken body up, slinging her over his shoulder. He grabbed Jubilee by the arm and began running for the exit.

Scott, Jubilee, and Iceman were the last to leave the barn, covering the backs of their wounded or less visibly defensive comrades as they made they way back through the woods to where they'd left the Blackbird. Logan shifted Carol so that she was in his arms and not so uncomfortably over his shoulder. They had a long walk ahead of them.

"What's on her legs?" Jean asked softly as they made their way steadily through the trees.

"Not sure. Some damn asshole back there tried to put it on her," he ground out harshly. Even though she was blond now, Carol still had Marie's face, and it had terrified him to see those thugs attacking her.

"We'll have to check it out when we get back to the Blackbird," Jean said worriedly.

"Yeah, well, that's not the only thing you've got to worry about. There's blood soaking through tears in the arms of her uniform. I can feel it, I can smell it, and let me tell ya, Jeanie, it might be coming out slow but it's steady," Logan told her, trying not to let her see how really worried he was.

Jean reached over and pressed her hand to Carol's forehead briefly. "She's weak, fading in and out of consciousness. Damn, I wish we could get there sooner," she said softly.

They were silent the rest of the way back to the plane. When all of the X-Men were finally on board and Scott had taken off, Logan went into the makeshift medlab and watched Jeanie check over Carol.

"They really did a number on her, Logan," Jean said. Her voice was tense as she unwrapped two thick metal cords from around Carol's legs. She had straightened the younger woman's arms and there was a cast on each of them.

"Yeah, they did," Logan agreed regretfully. "I saw 'em coming, but I couldn't get to her in time," he said regretfully.

"She'll heal, though, Logan. At least she made it out alive. We're lucky we didn't lose anyone," Jean told him quietly.

"I shoulda known it was a trap. Those bastards don't ever do us the favor of leaving a clear trail if they can help it," he growled.

"I know. I hate them sometimes," Jean confessed. Her hands were busy checking Carol's legs for any external injuries.

"Especially times like these," Logan agreed. He reached out and ran a finger over Carol's-no, Marie's lips, her jaw.

"Logan-" Jean began.

He wasn't paying her any attention. Instead, he was focusing on a something that was tugging at his hand were it rested on the pale woman's cheek. It was a very familiar pull. He felt himself begin to weaken even as the cut which had crusted over on Carol's-no, Marie's, face began to pull together.

It was healing. Because she was absorbing his powers.

"Logan!" he heard Jean cry, but it was like she was talking at a distance.

Hell yeah, was his last thought.

* * *

As some light came into the darkness, Marie began to laugh. It was a laugh full of joy and triumph and tinged with weariness. The light dimmed and she sighed, ready to prepare herself for the next battle


	8. Chapter 8

**By Khaki**

* * *

"C'mon, Kit Kat." Jubilee said, pulling her friend away from Bobby with one hand and holding leftovers from dinner in the other.

"Where're we going?"

"Carol's been in her room all day. She's gotta at least be hungry."

"Carol, please open the door. We're your friends. We just want to know you're ok," Kitty pleaded through the door.

She turned to Jubes, with a look of resignation. Then, with a click, the door unlocked, but didn't open. Jubilee knocked tentatively as she turned the knob and opened the door.

"Carol?"

The blond girl was on the bed, clutching her legs tightly to her chest and rocking back and forth. Jubes could see the trails that tears had made down her face. She set down the plate of food and sat down next to Carol, reaching to put an arm around her, when the girl shrunk back in terror.

"Don't touch me."

Jubilee jumped off the bed, startled by the reaction and the fear she saw in Carol's eyes.

Carol went back to her rocking and then muttered, "Jean says Rogue's touching thing is coming back. It's blinking on and off, and I can't tell when it's safe."

Kitty whispered to herself, "If Rogue is dead, then why is her mutation coming back."

"What?!" Carol shrieked. "What did you say, Kitty? You think I've been lying all this time? That this is some kind of fun thing for me, that I wanted to end up in this body?"

Kitty was shocked into silence, she hadn't expected Carol to hear her. "How did you..."

"I absorbed Wolverine, remember? Good hearing kinda comes along with the asshole in my head. As if I didn't have enough to deal with before, now I've gotta listen to his voice, too."

"What?" Jubes asked in a quiet voice.

Carol, realizing what she'd said a second after she said it, and had to cover. "What?"

"What did you mean by that? Having to listen to his voice too?"

"Look, I'm tired. I don't know what I said. Just, can ya just leave me alone?"

"Yeah. We just brought you dinner, thought you might be hungry." Jubes said, heading for the door. "C'mon, Kits."

After they'd left the room, Jubes turned to her friend. "Did you hear what I heard?"

* * *

Carol was furious. She'd wanted to fly away, wanted to go to the roof to think, wanted to go to the gym and beat the stuffing out of her punching bag, but she knew as soon as he woke up, he would track her down.

She'd been in her room all day, trying to think a way out of this mess. Along with her more recent injuries, the scars, the limp, all the reminders of that terrible car accident, were gone. Jean'd even told her she was growing a new spleen. It was everything she'd wished for, and she hated it with every breath in her body, because now he was with her, in her head, and he was helping Marie. She'd push Rogue down, and Logan would fight her. She'd push Logan down and Rogue would get stronger.

After a day of fighting in her head, she'd been tired when Jubes and Kitty visited, and she'd let the secret slip. They knew that Marie was still alive.


	9. Chapter 9

**By Khaki**

* * *

Carol noticed it the next day. Whispers began to float around the school. The others stared at her when they thought she wasn't looking. She couldn't hide the gloves the professor insisted she wear.

She was working out when he found her. She tried to ignore him, but Logan, though still weak, was not a man to be ignored. "Hey, kid." The voice grated on her ears. It had kept her up all night; his voice and Marie's in unison claimed that she needed to leave. Carol pretended not to have heard.

Within seconds he was beside her. "I know you heard me. You've still got my senses, Carol." She whirled on him, her arm catching him in the chest. He groaned and stumbled back, her superior strength knocking him back. "Damn it."

Carol tried to look properly shocked, but the thrill of hitting the man who was helping her lose her body was too much. Marie screamed inside her head. Logan screamed inside her head. Carol bit her tongue to keep from letting the two combined personas inside her mind rule her body. It was her body, her body, her body... It was as if she kept repeating it, it would make it true.

Logan stood up and looked at her. He took in her gloves, and the look of terror and concentration on her face. He flashed her a brief, and somewhat malicious smile before turning on his heel and leaving.

Carol slumped to the floor. The exhaustion of the previous night's sleeplessness had caught up with her. She stripped off the gloves with venom.

Logan's voice interrupted her tirade.

Carol fought Logan with her mind and words, unaware that another link of the chain that held her to Marie's body had snapped.


	10. Chapter 10

**By Charon**

* * *

What exactly do you think you're doing, Logan?"

Logan was standing in front of the fridge, an open bottle of milk pressed to his lips when he heard the angry demand.

"Uhh... getting a glass," he withdrew the container from his mouth and leant over to the cupboard where the glasses lay. Jean entered the kitchen more, cutting off the entrance with her body.

"I'm not talking about your lack of hygiene. I was referring to what you're doing to Carol."

"Has Scott gotten to you now?" Logan asked boredly, but Jean wasn't going to be dissuaded.

"I've seen the way you look at her, Logan," Jean stated carefully. Logan knew she was testing the waters, desperate not to push him away despite the confrontation.

"Jealous, Red?" Logan smirked.

Jean shook her head and frowned, "You're terrifying Carol."

Logan slammed the milk down onto the counter, splashing white fluid across the bench. He stilled a chuckle and replied.

"You're not going to tell me you still believe that Marie isn't in there, are you?"

Jean breathed slowly and considered how to phrase it.

"It's not that I'm saying she's not there, Logan..." Jean paused and Logan walked in closer, giving her an oddly encouraging look. "Her skin - the mutation, is likely to be a residual effect of Rogue's body. Carol could have just lost control of it somehow... I realize how you feel but..." Logan's expression became dangerously hard but Jean continued. "What are you really doing?"

"I always figured you for the bright one," Logan drawled, "I'm hunting Carol down and getting Marie back."

Jean cocked her head, not expecting him to put it quite so bluntly. Admittedly, this was Logan, she reminded herself. He'd been sniffing around Carol constantly for all the time he'd been there, and it was his constant meetings with her and obsessiely neurotic behaviour that had caused this conversation. Despite his stealth and natural aloofness, it hadn't escaped her entirely.

"Because whether you can admit it or not, we both know she's in there," Logan added.

"What about Carol?"

He bristled, "What the fuck about Carol?"

He leaned menacingly into her but Jean stood her ground. It wasn't as easy as she'd hoped, having never been the true focus of his anger before. Even now, she was barely scraping the surface.

"Doesn't her consciousness have a right to live too? What if Marie-"

Logan shook his head violently, cutting her off. He breathed deeply. Jean could see the internal battle raging and almost reached her mind into his to understand it.

"Marie's body - Marie's mind. Carol can damn well die. Marie wouldn't have given up if that's what you're implying. She'd fight... damn hard if you'd help her," his voice dropped to a rasp. He'd wrestled enough with his conscience for Carol's death. It was a sacrifice he knew he was only too willing to make, but it scraped at his sense of humanity nonetheless.

"How can you be sure what you're doing is helping anyone?" Logan snapped his face up as she questioned him.

"Why did you come here, Red?" Jean took a step back but his hands locked around her arms, binding her to the scene.

"To say, we're so sorry... if only you'd been there... get the hell over her, Logan?" He looked into her and Jean felt herself exposed, naked in that look.

"No," she answered quietly but he didn't even recognize she'd spoken. "Because it's about damned time that someone tried something. Cause your method sure as hell hasn't gotten her back."

"The Professor wants to see you in his office. He thinks maybe..." Jean broke away. She shrugged her arms from his grasp and Logan let her.

"You should go," Jean stated. Logan looked at her face and knew she wasn't just talking about leaving the kitchen. He snarled under his breath and strode past her into the corridor. Pausing, he called over his shoulder, "Oh, and Jean... how the fuck could you know how I feel?!"

"I'm psychic," she muttered, before slumping to the tiled floor.

Xavier was sitting behind his desk when Logan entered. The old man, at least the one who looked old, wheeled back slightly from his place to gesture at Logan to sit. But the scent of the other in the room had overwhelmed him, heatened by anger and ready to lash out, the peroxide bit into his nose while the softness of her seeped into him.

"Logan, so good of you to join us," Xavier stated calmly. He was always so damn calm, Logan growled to himself. There was an answering raise of one eyebrow as the professor examined him.

Carol was cringing in her seat, leaning into one side.

Logan stood doggedly.

"You wanted me."

Xavier sighed and nodded.

Logan cracked his neck, still standing.

"Carol was gracious enough to come down and meet with us tonight," Xavier started. "As I explained to her, my intention is to resolve a certain... situation that has arisen between you."

"You could call it that," Logan grunted.

The Professor shot a warning glance at him.

"I've had reports that you're harassing Ms Danvers. Is that true, Logan?"

"Don't believe a word One-Eye says, he's just blowing smoke up your-"

"I've received reports from four individual parties. They say you've followed her, taunted Carol during training sessions, repeatedly instigated conversations where the sole purpose was to address Rogue..." Xavier continued down the list of Logan's recent behavior. Carol sat rigidly in her chair while Logan paced behind her. As he prowled past the other door he turned to look at her and mouthed words.

Carol gritted her jaw and refused to respond.

"I'm sorry to do this, but I have no choice Logan. Please collect your belongings and leave," Xavier finished.

"What?" Logan demanded. "What kind of shit are you trying to pull here?" Logan felt a bolt of ice lancing into his neck. The effect was to silence him.

"I don't feel that you're safe to have around here, with young students and especially with Ms Danvers. While it's not under question that you'll be leaving, if you would agree, I could organize some counseling for-"

Logan roared, releasing his claws into the air and Carol gasped. The last time he'd done that in front of her she'd been too occupied with opponents to truly observe. Now, the phenomenon of nine inches of metal slipping through skin into air, startled her. Sending a thrill of recognition through the darkest parts of her.

"Why can't you see it? Marie's in there! And she's begging to come out."

Xavier regarded him coolly and Logan slashed the air in frustration. "Why won't you just look, dammit!"

Logan felt the anger swell, breaking over and flooding his rational self. He grabbed for her, it seemed the best thing to do. Carol resisted his arms as he pulled her from the chair and up against him. Her body was pressed hard into flannel and jeans, while three knives rested at her throat.

"Tell him," he hissed. Carol mouthed an obscenity coldly and he let one blade slip over her skin. A sliver of red welled up from under her jaw. Logan pushed at her, demanding Marie to revolt against the pain, while it took all his strength just to press that hard.

Tears pricked at Carol's eyes, "You can't hurt her, Logan. Not with anything more than a papercut. And even then, you think you're helping her."

Logan felt Xavier's mind skating over his, readying to disable him if he went so much as a step further.

"Only Marie would know that," Logan replied hoarsely, feeling the surroundings slip away as he concentrated on her. The feel of Marie stretched along him, her voice pulling at him and the tang of her blood in the air. He lowered his lips closer to her ear and jawline.

"No, you touched me too," Carol replied. Even now, he was taunting her in muted roars, "I can feel you now. Still rattling your cage." Within and without.

"They all know about you, Marie. They know you're in there. The looks... the questions... all the eyes are on you."

Carol's eyes slipped shut and the events of the day met her again. So many accusing stares. All she wanted was to live. To exist.

"Tell him, Marie," he whispered and his breath ran hotly over her ear. Carol shivered and felt herself drift away from the touch. The door slid open as Xavier watched aghast. Scott reached forward to intervene but Jean's arm held him back. Kitty and Jubilee stood to the side, unsure of the situation.

The coarse hair along his cheek grazed her skin as he bent further into her neck.

"Fight, Marie," Logan rumbled.

"Logan..." the voice was soft and lazily southern. He purred deeply in his throat, as she reached out to him and her eyes opened slowly, shadowed with a friendly warmth. Marie.

He brushed his lip over the trail of blood on her skin, before tentatively lapping at it, cleaning the wound he'd given her.

"Fight," he urged again.

Something rushed within, the single word flamed them both. 'Fight' he said and fight they did. Carol felt her vision return immediately and she pushed the weaker Marie to the side.

Staggering back, as Logan let his arms drop away from her, Carol searched the eyes of the room.

Xavier was fixed on Kitty and Jubilee as they ranted at him inside their minds. Carol knew immediately what they were telling him, about the incident in her bedroom, even pausing to wonder why they hadn't told him sooner. Logan was standing in the center of the room, his muscles relaxed and his claws still hanging out as his chest heaved in breaths. Smug satisfaction was on his face... that and other things.

Looking back to Xavier, Carol felt the looks overwhelming her... They all knew. Even his kindly eyes, the ones who had peered into her as they waited for Logan. The way they had been blissfully oblivious to the other student's gawks and had offered sympathy for having to put up with the brutish Wolverine... was all gone. They were calculating now, determining how to bring the other back. She'd been expecting this, ever since she'd seen it in Jubilee and Kitty. But to know finally that all her options were gone, was a terrifying thought to Carol.

Marie was strong in her mind, wrestling control back and forth so much that emotions were swimming from her grasp. But the realization remained.

She had to escape.

Logan wet his lips, tasting her blood again as he watched the scene unfold. His mind kept urging Marie to escape her prison and something was indeed happening inside her. Carol was almost thrashing in her own skin. The two telepaths debated internally, whether this was truly any place for them to take control.

Logan, fixated on her, was the first to see her turn. With a swift move she was launching herself to the window, part of her expecting merely to crash through it, as the controlling part expected her to take flight. He sprung into action, shouting as he pushed himself towards her.

Something gave way and she felt her weight lift from the ground. Glass rushed over her face before her body continued to lift. She was flying. Behind her, Logan's hands clawed through the air desperately reaching for her.


	11. Chapter 11

**By Khaki**

* * *

Carol flew for hours, until she was completely exhausted. She'd cried most of the way, letting the winds dry her cheeks. She hated Rogue. She hated Logan. She had lost her body and her health to Rogue years earlier. Now, thanks to both of them, she had lost her home and her future. They weren't going to stop there, though. She could hear them inside her mind, and now they wanted her life.

Well, she wasn't just going to lay down and die. She'd figure out something. She'd find a way to go back to college. She'd change her name, change her appearance, and live a new life. But how do you hide from a telepath? She was sure that by now, they were tracking her, and despite the mental shielding she had learned at the school, she wasn't strong enough to hide from the professor.

She landed on the outskirts of a small Midwestern town. She didn't know the name of the town, or even what state she was in, but she needed to rest.

Walking into Mary's Diner, she plopped down in a booth as worn out as she was. It was pitch black outside, probably 1 or 2 in the morning, and she felt lucky that the place was still open. As it was, there was only one other customer, an older man sitting at the counter.

"What can I get for ya, hon?" the kind, middle-aged waitress asked, shuffling over to the booth. Taking in Carol's rumpled clothes and red, puffy eyes, she asked, "Are you ok, honey?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Carol answered, although she felt far from fine. She ordered an early breakfast, and closed her eyes, trying to push down the voices that were screaming in her head to go back.

She sat there for an hour, her meal long gone, just resting and trying to work out where she would go from there, when she heard the bell on the restaurant's door jingling. She turned and saw a familiar, old face.

'How did he find me?' she wondered, her thoughts racing. She'd thought she would be safe here for a couple more hours, and of all the people she'd expected to see, he was the last on her list.

"Hello, my dear," the refined voice said. "May I join you?"

Carol nodded dumbfounded, and watched Magneto sit across from her in the booth.

"What are you doing here? How did you know where..."

"My dear," Magneto said with a light chuckle. "You don't think I let Charles' school go unmonitored. I knew the instant you left, and I know why you left... I have a proposition for you."


	12. Chapter 12

**By Ally**

* * *

"DAMN IT! Look what you've done!" Logan shouted at the room full of X-Men behind him. He glared out the window after Carol, flying away with his Marie's body.

"What we've done, Logan? Who's the one who frightened her so badly?" Jean asked, her voice cold. Logan could tell from her scent that she wasn't so unemotional, though. She reeked of fear and self-doubt.

"If you had all done your jobs in the first place, Ms. I'm-a-Psychic-I-Can-Help-You, then Carol would never have been able to keep Marie's body! That bitch had no right to stay in there, shoving my Marie to the side! Damn it all to hell and back, Jean, she blames Marie for her death when it was no one's fault! And she'll never let Marie have control again, if someone doesn't do something to fight her from the outside. You all are too busy being pure and shameless to do anything," Logan said hotly, turning to face them. His eyes blazed. "If someone-and of course, there's no need to name any names here, is there?-had bothered to look into her mind, then maybe you could have realized that Carol wasn't only one in there! But, no, you had to stick with your damn ethics. TO HELL WITH ETHICS!"

Logan walked forcefully across the room, shoving Scooter out of his way. He made it to the door before anyone else managed to speak.

"Where are you going, Logan?" Professor Xavier asked.

"I'm going to find that bitch, Chuck. And when I do, no matter what it takes, I'm going to make sure that she isn't in control of Marie's body anymore. Got a problem with that?" Logan asked with a low growl.

Professor Xavier was silent as Logan slammed open the door. Everyone else kept their mouths shut until he was out of the room. Then all hell broke loose.

"How dare he-"

"I can't believe he-"

"Carol couldn't have kept that secret-"

"Someone should have guessed-"

"It'd be great to have Rogue back again."

The last comment brought the silence crashing back down on them own. The speaker, Jubilee, stood up.

"I'm gonna go with him. He's gonna need help convincing that girl to let go, and he won't be able to hurt her to help Rogue. I can," she said simply. With that, she walked out the open door.

* * *

Logan found the motorcycle he'd seen Scooter working on and grinned ferally. It was fitting that that asshole could supply his ride once again. He was just throwing his leg over the seat when Jubilee walked into the garage.

"I'm coming," she said.

"No, you're not, kid. There's only room for two on this bike," Logan said gruffly. He appreciated that Jubilee, once she realized that Marie was alive, wanted to help, but this wasn't a job for kids.

"That's okay," Jubilee said. "I've got my own."

She hopped onto a mint-condition Harley that looked like it had been ridden often and cleaned well. She pulled her shades down. "You ready to go?" she asked. Resigned, Logan nodded and gunned the engine.


	13. Chapter 13

**By Khaki**

* * *

"I'm offering you a place in the Brotherhood of Mutants," Magneto continued.

The Logan within her mind raged, wanting to rip apart the man in front of her, while Rogue cringed, wanting to get as far away from Eric as possible. Carol wasn't sure what to think. "I've fought against the Brotherhood for years. Why do you want to recruit me now? How could you ever trust me?" Silently, she added, 'How could I ever trust you?'

"I'm approaching you now, because for the first time, you're out from under Charles' influence. You've finally seen the true colors of your compatriots and the darker side of their rose-colored world."

The man in front of her, a man she'd been taught was one of her worst enemies, was making surprising sense. Carol answered him quietly, "I could never fight my friends."

"Your 'friends' want to kill you. They want to rip your mind from the body you fought to keep alive after the accident; the body you struggled to rehabilitate; the body that is rightfully yours. They want to turn it back over to the weak girl that stole your life."

"How do you know that? There's no way you could know that unless..." As Carol looked in his eyes, she saw her suspicions confirmed. "You've got someone in the mansion."

Magneto smiled, and cryptically replied, "I like to stay informed."

"Who? How long?"

"Who is not important. As for how long, long enough to know that they've been taking advantage of your gifts. They've been using you, but they don't care about you. In the Brotherhood, you could be so much more, Carol. You at least need a place to stay, to sort out your thoughts, to become yourself again. I know that animal made you absorb his personality. We can give you a haven, and time for him to fade."

At Magneto's mention of him, Logan growled, a growl that came out on Carol's lips. The loss of control scared her.

"Sorry," she apologized, "you made him mad."

"I understand completely, my dear. The man is a cretin. Let me help you."

"What the hell," Carol said, rising from the booth and following Magneto out of the diner.

* * *

Charles Xavier tossed and turned for hours, but sleep eluded him. How could he have been so blind? How could he not see that Rogue had survived after the accident and had languished under Carol's control for years? He hadn't believed that Carol could take over if Rogue's core personality had been intact, and he had just relied on the assumption, never bothering to check its validity. He had maintained his moral superiority and allowed Carol's reticence to be mind-scanned dissuade him from trying.

On the other hand, Carol, like any other person, deserved a chance at life. She had spent years in Rogue's body, doing the physical therapy, getting back into peak shape, fighting to regain a normal life. Didn't that earn her a right to continue to live?

It was a staggering moral dilema. One he wouldn't solve tonight, that much was certain. He was concerned for Carol and Rogue, and he had to know where she (or was it 'they?') had gone after fleeing the mansion.

Making his way down to Cerebro in the pitch black of early morning, he affixed the helmet on his head and followed the hint of Carol's mental signature. She was in a run-down diner, the faded name, Mary's Diner, was too generic to tell him exactly where she was. She was getting up from a booth and walking towards the exit, following..."

Xavier ripped the helmet off his head, letting it fall on its stand. To the empty room, he whispered, "Eric."


	14. Chapter 14

**By Khaki**

* * *

Logan and Jubilee rode all night. It was hard to track someone by smell when they were flying, but Logan was lucky. The wind had been blowing all night steadily from the Southwest, which seemed to be the direction Carol was going. Logan lost her scent in the early morning hours. The wind hadn't shifted, so he figured she must've stopped to rest.

It took them a while, stopping at all the small towns they came across in the direction Carol had gone, but by early afternoon, Logan had found her scent. They were in Clarkston, Illinois, in front on Mary's Diner. There was another familiar scent here, but it had faded, and Logan couldn't place it.

They went in and ate lunch, asking the waitresses and cashier about Marie.

"Yep, I remember her, poor gal. I was working LeAnn's shift and she came in at about 2 in the morning. Something had her awful upset." The waitress's face turned suspicious. "Why're you lookin' for her anyway?"

"She ran away from school," Jubilee piped in.

"You two don't look like any school officials to me."

"Look, did you see where she went or not?" Logan asked.

The waitress paused, and then shrugged like she figured it wouldn't do any harm to tell them. "She left, 'bout an hour after she came in, with an older man. Could've been her grandfather, I don't know. He had one of those ritzy accents, definitely upper class. Good tipper, too."

The description clicked with the scent Logan had picked up outside. Carol had left with Magneto.

The Professor met with Scott, Jean, and Ororo over breakfast, telling them what he had discovered.

"How did Magneto find her so quickly?" Jean asked. "He's not psychic. How could he possibly know that she left?"

"He has to be watching the school," Scott pointed out, his logistical mind analyzing all angles of the situation.

"I agree. But we have more than one security problem," the professor added. "What do we do about Carol? Cerebro lost her as soon as she entered Magneto's car. She was an X-Man. She has all of our passwords, all of our top secret information."

"Carol would never..." Ororo started, but she was interrupted by Jean.

"Why not? She thinks we all want to kill her and bring Rogue back. Why should she have any loyalty to us after that?"

* * *

It had taken two weeks. Two weeks of searching, following bad leads and old trails, before they'd finally found the right lead. They finally found Magneto's new lair, deep in the Rocky Mountains and far away from prying eyes.

Logan was following Carol's scent, picking locks with his claws as necessary. Jubilee followed, alert, hands up and at the ready to attack. Neither of them was ready for the sight of Carol as they turned out of one corridor and into another.

"Logan, Jubilee, ya found me." Her voice was soft, lilting with a southern accent that was all Marie.

She was back. Marie was back in control. Logan was so overcome with joy, he didn't realize his mistake until it was too late. A solid object pounded into the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. As his vision grayed and he lost consciousness, he heard Sabretooth's growl and a familiar laugh.

Marie's smell, that's what had been wrong. It wasn't Marie, or even Carol. It was Mystique, and she was laughing.

* * *

"Get yer hands off me, ya overgrown rug!" Jubilee's cries echoed off the metal halls and into Carol's room.

'Jubilee? She came to find me? Huh, never figured her for a close friend, but still if she came for me...' Carol's thoughts were interrupted by Jubilee's cries.

"Logan, wake up. Help me here."

'Logan. Jubes hadn't come to save her. She'd come to help Logan kill her and take Marie back.' She felt anger creep into her soul, anger mixed with worry. She wasn't sure which of the personalities in her head were had those feelings, maybe all of them.

All this time, she had resisted Eric's attempts to get her to reveal the X-Men's secrets. Even though they had betrayed her, she still couldn't turn on her friends. So far, Eric hadn't pressured her. Now, Logan and Jubilee were here, and she found her loyalties pushed to the edge. She was either an X-Man or a member of the Brotherhood. There was no middle ground anymore.


	15. Chapter 15

**By Charon**

* * *

"Tea?"

Carol looked at Magneto, at the cup he held out and back at her feet. She sat in silence and scuffed one foot along the floor in an arc.

"What's bothering you, my dear?" he took a leisurely sip as he waited for her to answer.

"I had a nightmare," she replied.

Magneto nodded, "Well, I hardly need remind you such things are of no consequence."

"I know," Carol shook her shoulders.

Magneto continued to drink, biding his time for her peace.

"How is Logan this morning?"

"I can barely hear him... inside," she admitted. His presence had lost its intensity over the past few days in the rocky fortress. Magneto had been right, she'd had time to regain some control.

"But since they arrived yesterday, Jubilee hasn't stopped yelling and he snarls continuously."

Magneto frowned, "I'll have Creed take care of that for you."

"It's not so bad," Carol dismissed. She trembled to see that hulk of a man - the psychotically unraveled brute. Somehow it hurt to think she might unleash that on people who had once been her friends. Besides, it wasn't Jubilee's calls or Wolverine's growls that disturbed her. It was the questions... inside. Carol slipped her fingers, elegant fingers, through a cup handle. She gulped down the tea thirstily.

"Have you made your decision?" Magneto watched like a vulture as she sucked it down so desperately tea spilled down her chin.

"When do you need it by?"

Magneto raised a hand and a silver clock floated onto the table between them. "Twenty-three hundred hours, tomorrow."

"A day?"

"A little more, my dear, but you have had two weeks."

Carol nodded and pushed herself away from the table. She needed to talk to someone, but not this twisted husk in front of her. Magneto was a casualty of war and he hadn't even noticed that he was dead yet.

Her fingers spasmed and the cup smashed onto the floor.

* * *

"She was your friend too!" Jubilee banged her palm into the wall again. "Oh damn it," she clasped her hand suddenly as she felt a sting.

"Feeling useful?"

Wolverine sat propped up against a wall, his legs spread wide over the floor. He'd regained consciousness soon after having been tossed in here with Jubilee. Thick stone surrounded him, except for the entrance where there appeared to be nothing. But they'd found how deceptive that was when Logan had pushed an arm through. He'd regained consciousness an hour later, with Jubilee hovering over him as his blood still flowed through a wound.

The barrier was a lattice of the killing energy, and points of light skittered across the `bars', marking out their presence.

Jubilee was watching him, as he breathed steadily, letting his whole body swell with air and then fall. She held her hand tightly and eyed him. Suddenly, Logan leapt up as his nose raised into the air. He inhaled deeply, in a crouch, before a wicked grin spread across his face.

"Missed ya, darlin'," he growled.

Carol started at his voice, so close to the barrier where she stood in darkness.

"I keep forgetting what you are," Carol replied.

"You may as well come out."

"Carol?" Jubilee walked forward, peering around the corner.

Carol seemed to appear in front of her, "Who else... Jubes?"

"How's things going with Magneto?"

Carol narrowed her eyes.

"C'mon, Carol. How does it feel to shack up with the guy you've always hated?"

"Jubilee," Logan tried to calm her.

Carol ignored her and looked at Logan, "I have little more than a day to decide what I'm going to do."

"What's the choice?"

"Whether to murder us or –"

Logan's hand clamped around Jubilee's mouth and he eyed Carol. "Help them or leave. I guess. It's never really been spelt out, but there may be fighting. Possibly torture," Carol looked at them pointedly, "For some of us."

Jubilee wriggled and Logan let her go.

"And you thought you'd come say hello and best wishes? How uncharacteristic," she retorted.

"You keep waiting for me to snap," Carol looked hard at Jubilee, "Because then you think Marie will pop out and save the day."

"Would that be so bad?"

Carol turned away from them, disappearing back into shadow. Jubilee huffed and retreated to a corner of the room. Despite her exhaustion she could only concentrate on the rawness of her throat and the hunger pang in her stomach.

Logan sat against the wall, near the invisible bars and listened to the quiet breaths on the other side.

"She thinks you're gone," Logan finally stated. Jubilee didn't even notice his voice or the slightest movement of his rough face.

"She dreamt of you," Carol replied softly. Logan closed his eyes and Marie's face flooded into sight. He'd dreamt of her too.

"All she wanted for so long was to be in your arms. She wanted your touch. Fuck, she wanted a lot of you," Carol's voice shivered.

Logan let her speak, knowing this was why she had come. She was trying to attone, or at least confess.

"Did you know... it wasn't always like this, Logan. I..." Carol bit into her lip, steadying herself as she remembered, "When I woke up, I couldn't feel her at all. I opened my eyes and there was this big, white room. And I stretched my fingers and all I could think was they felt wrong."

Logan murmured, encouraging her. He was picturing his Marie's body on a medlab, her eyes being opened by a stranger who didn't know any better.

"It was the hair that confirmed it, long before Jean let me look at a mirror. When I could, I bleached those damn streaks out..." Carol spoke, retelling the story of how she'd come to realize what she was now. And how Marie had been silent in those first days.

"It was the blood that did it. I cut my hand on a fence. Left a scar when it healed. She liked the scent of blood... I think she saw that as so much of your relationship. This mutual matyrdom crap."

"Not a matyr, not yet," Logan warned.

Fabric rustled against the stone as she shrugged.

"The hardest thing... the most painful thing to learn was that Marie doesn't live in me."

Sweet features loomed through the darkness as Logan opened his eyes to see her face just in front of the barrier.

Carol took a deep breath and Logan leaned into the vision. It was dark enough to shadow the bleached hair, as a strand fell forward. "I live in her... I live in her."

"You know what you have to do, Carol," Logan stared at her intensely, "You know you have to give her control."

"I don't want to lose control!" Carol whimpered.

"You're not losing it, you're returning it."

Carol's fingers reached into a square hollow of the barrier and Logan stared at the fingers for a moment. Marie... he reached forward and brushed his fingertips against them.

"She doesn't want to lose this either," Carol replied.

"But you know... you know this isn't your life," Logan whispered hoarsely. Across the room, Jubilee tossed a little where she dozed.

"I know," Carol broke off as a tear flowed down her cheek, "But it's not that simple, Logan. It's not that easy to die."


	16. Chapter 16

**By Khaki**

* * *

Wiping away the tear from her face, Carol realized she had already made her decision. She had just been putting off the inevitable. She had to help them, and she couldn't join Magneto. Her life, as precious as it was to her, wasn't worth her soul.

"Wake Jubes and try to keep her quiet," Carol said, moving away from the cell and over to the control panel. Magneto hadn't trusted her with the combination to release the barrier, so she used the one-two combination of her fists into the control panel. The barrier sparked and fizzled, disappearing completely. Logan and Jubilee cautiously entering the hallway as soon as it was down.

"Marie?" asked Logan, looking in her eyes.

Carol looked away. "No. Rogue doesn't have any combat experience. Let's get away first."

Logan, who had at first looked disappointed and a bit suspicious, nodded at her logic. "Lead on."

* * *

Silently, Carol lead them through the halls that she had walked many times over the course of the past two weeks, trying to clear her head and figure out her future. She knew the way by heart, leading them through the labyrinth of twists and turns.

When they were only a few turns away from escape, Logan stopped. Carol and Jubilee immediately stopped along with him, trusting to his superior instincts.

"Logan, what's wrong?" Carol whispered.

Every muscle in his body was tense. His jaw muscles twitched as he tried to answer her question, but his response just came out in an unintelligible mumble.

Before she could react, a massive creature dropped to the ground behind her, and Sabretooth had her in his tight grasp. His strength was a match for her own, and with her hands gripped in that position, she couldn't get enough leverage to escape. She tried stomping on his feet and kicking back at his legs, but he only laughed at her. Jubilee wasn't doing much better against Mystique, who had been so well camouflaged against the wall, she'd seemed to appear from thin air. She was was using a much larger and stronger body than her natural, blue one, keeping Jubilee's hands pointed in a safe direction.

Logan was still motionless in the middle of the corridor, growling through his teeth. Magneto, one hand held out controlling Logan's skeleton, walked up from the direction they'd come.

"Carol, my dear, I'm surprised at you. After your friends turned their backs on you, we gave you everything: shelter, food, warmth, companionship. This is how you repay us?"

"You're right, Eric," Carol answered. "You gave me a place to stay when I had nothing, and I am grateful for that, but you're wrong about one thing."

"And what is that?"

Carol closed her eyes and surrendered the control she'd held onto so desperately for so long. Raising her head to meet Magneto's eyes, she answered his question. "My name is Rogue."

As she said the words, she felt her bare skin react to Sabretooth's grip, and the connection opened.


	17. Chapter 17

**By Ally**

* * *

Rogue held on only long enough to render Sabretooth unconscious, but it was also long enough to allow her to take on his animalistic qualities. She shuddered as she thought of what his foreign mutation was doing to her body, but now wasn't the time for that. Magneto was glaring at her as Sabretooth's limp form dropped to her feet, his thin lips twisted down in a bitter grimace.

"My dear, I had such high hopes..." he said quietly, the lethal edge to his voice apparent nonetheless.

"My mama always said not to count yer eggs before they're hatched," Rogue drawled with a smirk in his direction. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mystique and Toad attack Logan and Jubilee, but she had to concentrate on Magneto for the moment. The results of this confrontation would be decided with words, not a power struggle despite what the dueling four might think.

"Yah really should let us go, Erik. The trouble and pain we'll cause will cripple yer little group for a very long time. Even yah're not safe. Neither of my friends can be used as hostages, because yah know that if yah hurt either of them Ah'll kill yah anyway, even if it means having yah in my head for the rest of my life. Ditto on if yah try to fight me. So, as Ah see it, yer only choice is to let us go," Rogue reasoned as sweetly as she could around two much-larger-than-normal canine teeth.

"You've forgotten something, my dear," Magneto said with a small smile.

"Ah don't think so, Erik," Rogue said softly.

"But it's true. You've completely forgotten the manners your mother most likely instilled in you as a child, and what happens when you display bad manners, as you are doing now. For instance, being so rude to me in my own home. Tsk tsk, Rogue-child," he said somberly.

Rogue lifted her chin. "Are yah sayin' that yah would just let us leave?" she asked, not a shred of doubt in her mind as to the answer.

"Of course not. You are all far too valuable, even with the amount of retraining you will require. No, I am simply suggesting that giving in without a struggle would be the best for you and your friends," Magneto told her, smearing the word "friends" with contempt and repulsion.

Rogue smiled slightly as Toad flew overhead, his chopped up and bleeding tongue a tell-tale sign of whom he'd decided to mess with. The smell of scorched flesh told Rogue that Mystique was probably faring no better with Jubilee.

"Who is going to help you, Magneto? Ah know-because Carol knew, of course-that we're all alone up here. Yer goons are somewhere out in America, trying to provide the professor with a little distraction. Well, it won't work. This world is not yers. It will never be the way yah want it to be. And getting yerself killed won't make yah any more of a martyr than yah already are, Erik," Rogue told him bitingly.

Magneto's face twisted in an expression of fury, but the look in his eyes told her that he knew he was defeated. He turned his head to glare at first Jubilee and then Logan. There's a saying that if looks can kill...well, if that were true, Magneto would've had all of them down on the floor with huge gaps in her skull.


	18. Chapter 18

**By Khaki**

* * *

Magneto's face set into a hard expression and he whispered, "Fine."

Putting his arms out to his sides and using his magnetic powers, he rose above them all in the cavernous junction of the corridors, out of Rogue's reach. In Logan's case, Magneto's gaze could kill, and he was certain that this man was the cause of Carol's betrayal.

A wet, sickening crack echoed in the space, followed by a pain filled grunt. Rogue turned to see Logan on the ground, cradling his right leg. Toad and Mystique had retreated from the fight not minute earlier, so the only threat was Magneto, but he was enough.

Jubilee raised her hands to paff the floating man, only to be sideswiped by a flying metal strut. She fell to the ground, unconscious, next to Sabretooth. Rogue was hit in the same instant by metal tubing that immediately wrapped around her arms and legs, trapping her.

Another snap and an aching whine.

"Now do you see who is truly in control?" Magneto lectured her.

Rogue was overcome by the conflicting emotions running through her as she witnessed Logan's suffering. Sabretooth was enjoying it, the smell of blood bringing his personality to the surface. She pushed him down, trying to think. At every shuddering gasp, every stifled grunt, she wanted to scream at Eric, beg him to stop, but she knew that would only drive him on, so she bit her lip and swallowed her words. She had to get free, and there was only one person who could help her.

Reaching deep within herself, she touched Carol. 'I need your help. Neither of us can do this alone. We need to work together.'

Mentally, Carol nodded and reached out, touching Marie. Sharing the body, they combined their powers. Carol broke the metal tubing and took flight, attacking Magneto. After beating him into unconscious, Rogue took over, absorbing enough of his powers to help Logan.

Logan's labored breathing was the only sound, as she knelt down beside his broken body. Magneto had used his nearly impervious skeleton against him, twisting and pulling the metal to break the underlying bones. They couldn't heal until they were back in position.

"Logan." Pain filled hazel eyes met her own, as she took in his injuries. "Logan, I have to reset the bones."

"Do it," he grunted, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth against the upcoming pain.


	19. Chapter 19

**By Khaki**

* * *

"Here goes."

Rogue placed her hands hovering just above the compound fracture in Logan's leg. The tibia had been broken, one jagged end of it forced through the skin. As she called up Magneto's powers, the metal lined bone began to move. At Logan's pain filled gasp, she stopped, conflicting emotions running through her. Magneto laughed, Sabretooth thrilled at the smell of blood, Logan growled, David shied away from the sight of blood, and Carol didn't know what to think. Logan had been downright mean to her when they'd been back at the mansion, but here he'd been really understanding. She realized that she didn't want him hurt.

"I'm sorry," Rogue whispered to him. She reached out to stroke his forehead, to comfort him, but she pulled away when she remembered she didn't have any gloves on.

Logan nodded at her, then breathlessly answered, "S'okay, just try to do it a little faster."

"I don't know how much control I have. I don't want to hurt you more."

"I trust you," Logan replied, and she could see the perfect trust reflected in his hazel eyes. It made her even more nervous about what she had to do.

Focusing Magneto's powers she prepared to try again. However, using Magneto's powers while trying to keep Magneto's personality down just wasn't working. He kept coming to the fore, trying to hurt Logan at the same time she pushed to help him. She sat back in frustration. Logan needed her help, right now. She had to get control of her mind.

Suddenly, the cacophony of voices faded and died. Marie was surrounded by silence, only broken by Logan's labored breathing.

'What happened?' Marie thought.

'I've got them under control,' Carol's thoughts broke through. 'Hurry. I can't hold them all back for long.'

Marie focused and pushed the bone back through the skin, snapping it into place and smoothing the adamantium over the break. Logan sucked in air like he was going to scream, his eyes bulging. Then they lost all focus, rolling back in his head as his breath came out with a sigh.

"Logan?" Marie asked, shaking his shoulders. "Logan!" She was starting to panic when she noticed the steady rise and fall of his chest. He'd passed out. Perhaps that was for the best.

Marie tried to hurry, resetting the bones before he regained consciousness. Eighteen breaks in all. She could see the open wounds healing, if she looked close enough, but it wasn't going nearly as fast as she'd hoped. They had to get out of here. Mystique and Toad could come back any minute. Sabretooth had a healing factor, and she hadn't touched him that long. Who knew when he'd wake up.

When she turned to look at Sabretooth, she saw Jubilee.

"Jubes!" Her friend's face was bloody from the gash on her forehead. "Jubilee, wake up."

Jubes muttered and reached out her hand to push Marie away. Marie jumped back just in time to avoid the touch. "C'mon, Jubes. I need ya to wake up."

"Five more minutes," Jubilee muttered.

"Jubilation Lee, get up this instant!"

Jubilee's eyes snapped open and focused on her face. "Rogue?"

"Yeah."

"Why are there two of you?"

"There're more of me than that," Marie muttered, then said in a louder voice. "Jubes, you were hit on the head. I need you to help us get out of here. How did you get here?"

Jubilee groaned as she tried to sit up. "Motorcycles."

That was not what she wanted to hear. How was she going to get an injured Jubilee and Logan away from here on motorcycles?

"Where'd you leave them?"

"About 5 miles away."

Damn. Of course, even if they were right outside, they were next to useless. She was going to have to fly them out of here. That would be awkward at best and deadly at worst. Jubes had a head injury and Logan was unconscious. What if one of them panicked? What if she dropped them?

Sabretooth's groaning made up her mind. Grabbing Jubilee under one arm and Logan under the other, she took flight, speeding down the remaining corridors and out into the open air.

They'd only gone about 50 miles when Carol's strained voice startled her. "Marie. Land. Now."

She'd just touched down in the middle of the forest, laying Jubilee and Logan down, when the voices broke through Carol's blocks and overwhelmed her.


	20. Chapter 20

**By Ally**

* * *

"Rogue, wassa matter?" Jubilee asked, barely coherent.

Rogue didn't answer. Her eyes were blank, and then they shut as she dropped to her knees and clutched her head in her bare hands.

* * *

Carol told her.

Logan growled out.

Rogue would have smiled if the situation hadn't been so grim. She whimpered as the other voices began to pound into her.

There was a sneer in his voice.

They were pouring into her, trying to drown her in their fear, their hatred, their contempt. She felt strong arms around her, holding her up. She clutched Carol and Logan to her, knowing that they were all that stood between her and death at that moment.

Carol whispered softly into her ear.

Rogue answered.

Suddenly it felt as if her skin was being torn open, and then she being filled beyond capacity with a strange light. This lasted for years, and it took only a few seconds.

Carol told her.

Then she stood alone against the three minds attacking hers. Except that she wasn't alone. She was Marie, and she was Carol, and even Logan claimed a part of her. All of their minds had coalesced into Rogue. She felt the powers she'd experienced briefly before surging to life, and with those powers came the strength to subdue the other damn minds she was stuck with. Temporarily, anyway. And that was all she needed.

* * *

"Okay, Jubes, yah rested enough?" Rogue asked, standing up and taking her hands from her tear-streaked face. She smiled slightly. Okay, maybe it was more of a smirk, but she was still trying to adjust to having completely absorbed Logan.

Jubilee gave her a strange look through eyes that were squinting around the pain in her head. "Sure, Rogue. You ever gonna tell me what all that was about?" she asked as she prepared herself to be lifted up by Rogue again.

"Maybe, Jubilee, although Ah really don't think yah could understand. Let's just say that, while Ah'm back Ah'm also a lot better than Ah was before." That was all Rogue would say to Jubilee. She remained silent the entire way back to the motorcycles, not even looking winded as she settled Logan down gently and kept a hand on Jubilee's arm to make sure she wouldn't fall flat on her face.

"Okay, now what are we gonna do?"

They had two motorcycles. That was good. There were only three of them. Of course, there was the small problem of what to do with the two members of their little group who could barely stay conscious.

"Why don' we jus' sleep here?" Jubilee suggested, sitting down on the grass and stretching out. "I think there're blankets and stuff in the back of the motorcycles. There should be, anyway."

"Sounds like a plan," Rogue muttered to herself. She opened up the storage compartment of one of the bikes and, sure enough, there was a whole survival kit in there. It was the same with the second bike.

"Okay, how exactly am Ah gonna split two blankets between three people?" Rogue asked herself.

"Why don' ya just lay 'em over us all. We can huddle t'gether for warmth," Jubilee stated.

"Yeah, and what happens if one of yah happens to touch my face or somethin' during the night?" Rogue asked, a bit of panic in her voice.

That's when she remembered something Carol had said. And she suddenly had a pretty good idea what that gift was.

Rogue reached inside herself and tugged something into place that she should have been aware of a long time ago, or so she told herself. Just to test it out, she laid a bare finger on Jubilee's hand. Nothing. No pull. Rogue increased the pressure and still nothing. She wanted to cry with joy, but her tears were long gone by now.

"Never mind, Jubes. Ah'll just get you and Logan all arranged then Ah'll scrunch between yah. That way, if either of yah need something during the night, Ah'll know right away," Rogue murmured. Of course, she knew by now from the way that she was breathing that her friend was asleep, but it felt good to talk to someone after such a long time of being tamped down by Carol.

Rogue settled Logan and Jubilee then laid down between them, pulling the blankets over all of them. What with the blankets being thermal adding to Logan's naturally high body heat, she was asleep as soon as she pillowed her head on Logan's chest.


	21. Chapter 21

**By Khaki**

* * *

Sabretooth pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked around the room. Magneto was lying a few feet away, unconscious, and Mystique and Toad were gone, so were the X-brats. He tried to sniff them out, but his head was pounding, and he was too tired to even stand up.

Carol had done something to him. In all the times he'd fought her over the years, she'd never done anything like that. Sure, they'd traded punches that could knock a heavy weight champion out in one blow, but this was different. It had felt like she was pulling his life out through his hands. It had drained him and exhausted him, making him feel weak for the first time in his life. He didn't like the feeling at all.

Pulling himself to his feet, he shuffled to the entrance. She'd turned on the Brotherhood, and she'd hurt him. No one did that and got away with it.

Breathing deeply, he caught her scent on the breeze. He stood there for a few minutes, but it didn't get any further away. They must have stopped for the night. They were probably only 10 or 15 miles away. Normally, he could've reached them in a couple of hours, but even though he could feel his strength returning, he was hardly at peak performance. Still, he would reach them before daybreak. He would show Carol what happened when you took on Sabretooth.

* * *

Logan started awake to the sight of pine trees rising up around him. He was in the forest. How did he get here? A soft murmur and a head shifting on his chest drew his attention down to the woman in his arms, the scent of her peroxide blond hair tickling his nose. As she shifted, her head rubbed against his half-healed ribs and he let out a gasp of pain. She immediately woke.

"Logan?" a bare hand came up, brushing his cheek, "are you ok?"

Her skin was touching his. That was impossible unless, "Carol?"

"No, sugah. Not Carol."

Overwhelming relief that flowed through him at her words. "Marie, how can you..."

"Not Marie either. I'm Rogue now."

She sat up next to him, checking the bandages she'd used from the survival kit on the back of the bikes. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

She laughed, a soft chuckle. "That's good. I thought you'd be feeling a lot worse after what you've been through." Satisfied with her inspection, she replaced the bandages she's disturbed. "The bleeding's stopped."

"Where are we, Mar... Rogue?"

"Where you stashed the bikes. We can't go any farther until at least one of you can drive."

"One of... what happened to Jubes?"

"Magneto cold cocked her with a part of the wall. She's got a pretty nasty head wound."

"What? We've gotta get her help. We've got to..."

"Logan. We will. We're just gonna rest up a bit first. You're healing. It'll be ok."

Rogue paused. "Logan. Why... why were you gone for so long?"

He could hear the nervousness in her voice, and it tore at his heart. "I was... I found out some things while I was gone, about my past."

He paused and Rogue nodded, waiting for him to continue. "And, well,... my past caught up with me. I had to..."

The winds shifted and he caught a familiar scent. Rogue sat bolt upright, obviously detecting the same presence, either using the bits of him she had left or the powers she'd absorbed from Sabretooth.

"Logan, stay here." she said, pulling the blankets off.

"Like hell I will," he countered, pushing weakly to his feet. Damn, his legs hurt, but he wasn't about to let her go against Sabretooth alone. "I'll attack. You flank him."

"Wrong, Logan. I'll attack, you flank." she said, running into the woods towards the scent, leaving him to catch up.

* * *

The wind shifted, but he knew he was close. He would find them easily, killing them all in their sleep. As he'd walked along through the woods, he'd felt his strength slowly returning, and now he was eager for a fight. He wanted to smell blood, and watch Carol's face as he tore her open.

"Lookin' for me, sugah?" he heard a feminine voice ask from above him. There she was, high in the branches of a pine tree. Growling, he challenged her, running to the tree and scratching at the trunk to try and shake her loose.

The attack from behind took him by surprise, fists of iron beating him down. It shouldn't have, though. Carol had used her flying abilities more than once against him in a fight. His reflexes were still too slow.

Swinging around with his claws, he missed gutting her by inches. She almost flew, backing away from him. That was her style, fly in, take a few pot shots, and back out before she could be touched. He had her now. If she attacked again, he'd be ready.

The six, sharp points that slammed through his back and into his chest made him realize that he had two enemies. Pulling away, he slashed at Wolverine, getting in a good strike before Carol came at him again, beating him down. Against both of them, still weakened from the earlier fight, he didn't have a chance. After a few minutes, he watched them from his prone position as they turned and left him to die, lying in his own blood.

* * *

"Shit, you're bleeding again," Rogue said, helping Logan back to the camp. "If Sabretooth found us, the others can't be far behind. We have to get out of here, but you're too hurt to drive and..."

"You're still not keeping your elbow in."

"What?" Rogue asked, startled by the change in conversation.

"When you punch, you need to keep your elbow in. When we get back, I'll teach ya."

"Uh, thanks Logan, but first we gotta get out of here." Rogue said as she sat him down, tending to the large gashes across his chest.

Once the new wounds were attended to and the older wounds were checked, she turned to Jubilee. Her friend hadn't woken during the fight, and that worried her.

"Jubes..." Rogue said, shaking the young woman gently. No response. She shook her more firmly. "Jubilee?" Nothing. She was starting to get frantic, slapping her gently on the face. "Jubilation Lee, wake up!"

Logan crawled over to them. "What's wrong?"

"She's not waking up... This is bad. We gotta get her outta here. Why'd you guys bring motorcycles. Of all the useless, impractical..."

"I can drive." Logan said softly.

"No you can't. You're still bleeding and..."

"It's ok. Take my jacket."

"What?" Rogue asked, confused as to what he was doing.

Logan moved over to Jubilee's Harley Davidson, propping it up. "Bring Jubes over here."

Rogue carefully picked up her friend, carrying her over to the bike, and placing her on the front.

"Put on the jacket and get on."

After Rogue straddled the bike, Logan grabbed the edges of the jacket and pulled it around Jubilee's body, zipping it up, and thereby holding Jubilee in place. He then pulled himself onto Cyke's motorcycle and started the engine.

"Logan, I don't think this is a good idea."

He turned, trying to give her a reassuring smile. "Trust me."


	22. Chapter 22

**By Ally**

* * *

It was a strange sensation, riding on a motorcycle with her unconscious friend behind her, zipped into her jacket. Of course, Rogue was getting used to strange situations involving herself.

It was still odd, being back in her own head. She hadn't had a lot of time to think about it before, but a bike ride across mostly bare country was the perfect opportunity to make up for lost time.

The nice part about being back in control now was that she was in full control. Carol's last gift before she'd settled into the back of her mind had enabled her to touch if she wanted while still be deadly when she needed to be. It was what she'd sought during the years when she'd been herself at Professor Xavier's school. Now that she'd attained it, what else was there to do?

Rogue mentally reviewed her list of talents and came up sadly short. She could kill with a touch. She could draw minimally well. She could solve just about any personal problem her friends brought to her, but she didn't consider that so much a talent as a blessing, since it had meant that she could avoid those same problems.

Staring ahead at Logan, who was going well above what she knew was the speed limit, Rogue thought about the way he'd stood up for her against Carol. He'd been determined to get Marie back, no matter what. Some part of her, deep inside, compelled her to find out why.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to get her answers for some time, Rogue settled herself more comfortably on the seat and tried to make her mind blank. The more questions she thought of, the more she confused herself, and there'd been more than enough of that lately, she thought.

* * *

Logan growled each time he hit a bump or a pothole in the road. His still-healing ribs weren't taking the beating very well.

For a minute, he considered slowing down, waiting for Rogue to catch up with him. But, as much as he'd wanted her back, he couldn't make himself talk to her at the moment.

The woman behind him wasn't his Marie. She wasn't the girl who'd cuddled against him on that train, who'd needed his comfort and his protection. Although he'd not been able to offer much of that once Magneto had shown up. She definitely also wasn't the girl who'd looked at him so desperately as her life was draining away, tied to the forces of Magneto's machine.

Rogue was someone altogether different, and Logan wasn't sure what to do with her. Deep down, though, he was sure that it'd be fun to find out.


	23. Chapter 23

**By Khaki**

* * *

'It's so quiet,' Rogue thought to herself after riding quietly for several minutes. Even with the roars of the motorcycles, everything was eerily calm to her. The voices were gone, absorbed into or pushed out of her mind. She was in total control of her own body for the first time since she'd kissed David. There were no inner comments on what she was thinking, no instructions or commands, no committee judging everything that she did. There was just her. Rogue. Not Marie. It was almost lonely.

Of course, there were advantages to being Rogue. Marie'd never been on a motorcycle in her life. Rogue could ride like a pro. Marie'd never had any combat training. Rogue could take on Sabretooth and win.

On the other hand, Logan hadn't sacrificed himself to save Rogue's life. That was for Marie. He'd comforted Marie. He'd promised to take care of Marie. What would he think of Rogue, who could take care of herself? Rogue, who had pieces of Marie, Carol, and Logan all mixed together into one person. Logan had fought against Carol because he wanted to get Marie back. Would he be satisfied with Rogue?

Rogue was interrupted from her contemplations when Jubilee grunted and shifted in the jacket.

"Jubes?" Rogue asked.

She was only answered with more shifting, and balance was starting to become an issue.

"Jubes, stop moving," Rogue shouted over the sound of the motor and the wind whipping past them.

Jubilee grunted more loudly, and the shifting turned into jerky spasms. The motorcycle tilted right and then left in response to Jubilee's awkward movements.

Rogue screamed as she tried to get the cycle under control and brake at the same time. She brought them to a stop and wrenched her and Jubilee out of the jacket that Logan had loaned her.

Jubilee almost fell off the bike, but Rogue was able to catch her in mid-air and slowly lower her to the ground. She was seizing spastically, strange grunting noises coming from her mouth as her body bucked and jerked.

Logan gunned his engine and looped around, stopping his bike next to Jubilee's.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She's having some sort of seizure," Rogue responded, not bothering to look up from her injured friend. Jubilee started pounding her head against the ground as she shook, and Rogue moved beneath her, putting Jubilee's head in her lap in an effort to keep her from further harm.

There wasn't anything they could do but wait.

After several minutes, Jubilee's seizure slowed, then stopped. Once Rogue made sure she was still breathing, she gently set her head down on the ground, and then stood up.

"Jubilee needs help now. Logan, stay with her. I'll be back soon."

Before Logan could say anything, Rogue took off, flying through the sky in a direction she hoped would lead to a town and a telephone.


	24. Chapter 24

**By Khaki**

* * *

Even though every inch of Logan's body ached, he was far more concerned about the young woman lying motionless on the ground before him. In the time Marie... no, Rogue, had been gone, Jubilee'd only gotten worse. She hadn't had another seizure, but her complexion had gotten really pale. He felt her forehead, expecting a fever, but instead he discovered that her skin was cool and clammy with sweat. In the stillness of their surroundings, he could hear her breathing becoming more shallow and her heart rate speeding up.

'She's in shock,' he realized, and then wondered how he knew that.

He'd never learned first aid that he could remember, but somehow, he knew what to do. He went to the bike he'd borrowed from Scooter and unstrapped his duffle bag. Pulling out a blanket, he wrapped it around Jubilee's body and then elevated her legs by moving the duffle underneath them.

There wasn't anything else he could think of to help her, but he couldn't just sit there and do nothing, so he talked to her. He told her to hold on, that Jeanie'd be there soon, and she'd heal her good as new. He wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, but he hoped he was.

It'd taken weeks to track down Carol, and during that time, he'd gotten to know Jubilee. At first, he'd found her endless chatter annoying, but at least she wasn't asking him any questions about himself. It took a couple of days before he realized that even though she talked almost non-stop, she really didn't say much about herself, either.

One day, when a lead on Carol didn't pan out, he realized in a burst of insight that Jubes used her perky attitude like he used his gruff demeanor, as a way to keep others at arm's length. Somehow, Marie'd broken through both their shields, and they'd risked everything to get her back.

They'd succeeded, but they'd also failed. Carol was gone, but they didn't get Marie back. They'd gotten Rogue, and they'd both been hurt in the process. He knew he'd heal, but he wasn't so sure about Jubilee.

It was about then in his musings that he heard the distinct sound of the Blackbird's engines approaching, and he couldn't have been more relieved.

There was no place for the jet to land in the mountainous terrain so it stopped, hovering high above them. Logan watched as Ororo and Marie... no, Rogue, flew out of the jet and floated down to the ground.

"How is she?" Rogue asked as soon as she landed.

"Worse," Logan answered. "Is Jeanie up there?"

"Ready and waiting," Rogue said.

Ororo bent down and gingerly lifted Jubilee's petite body into her arms, keeping the blanket around her. Rogue watched her and then turned to Logan.

"Ready, sugah?" she asked as she put her arms around his chest, getting ready to carry him up to the plane.

Logan hissed involuntarily as she gripped his still tender ribs and she immediately stepped back.

"Sorry... um, how should we do this?"

"It's ok, darlin', just do it."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm healing. It's ok. Jubes can't wait."

Logan gritted his teeth and held his breath on the ride up to the plane. As soon as they were inside, Rogue released him and helped him back to the miniature Med Lab. Jeanie was so busy hooking Jubilee up to all sorts of tubes and monitor equipment, that she didn't notice them for about a minute.

When she did, she asked Rogue, "He's hurt, too?"

"I'm healin'," Logan answered. "Focus on Jubilee."

It didn't take Jean any convincing to turn her attention back to Jubilee. That seemed to make Rogue really worried.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked quietly.

"Her right pupil's blown," Jean said, and then, when she saw their confused expressions, explained. "It looks like a subdural hematoma." That still didn't help, so she continued, "The head wound caused bleeding in her brain. The blood clotted into a hematoma. It's putting pressure on her brain. She needs surgery to remove it."

"But she'll be ok?" Rogue asked.

"I don't know yet," Jean said, then turned all her attention back to her patient.

"Oh, Logan, this is all my fault."

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, despite the pain it caused him. She was wrong. "It's my fault. I never shoulda let her come along."

"But if I hadn't gone off with Magneto..."

"You didn't, babe. Carol did."

"I did. Carol's a part of me."

Logan shook his head. "She's not you, Mar... Rogue. Besides, it's my fault Carol flew off in the first place."

"It's both your faults," Jean shouted, exasperated. "It's everyone's fault. Now if you don't need treatment, will you get out? I need to concentrate."

Rogue helped Logan up and they moved forward in the jet, settling down again just outside the cockpit.

"Jubes must be really bad," she told him. "Jean doesn't usually get that upset."

Logan didn't know what to say to that, so he just pulled her close and held her throughout the rest of the flight.

* * *

When they landed, Rogue watched Ororo and Scott run past them into the back of the plane. They helped Jean get Jubilee to the Med Lab, and Rogue helped Logan. With every minute, he seemed to be getting better and better. In fact, he hardly leaned on her at all as they walked out of the hangar bay.

Rogue wanted to take him to the Med Lab so that Jean could check him out when she had time, but he insisted on going back to his room. He argued that by the time Jean got around to him, he'd be healed anyway. With the improvement he'd already made, Rogue couldn't help but agree.

They were almost to the elevator when the doors opened and St. John stepped out. Rogue felt her heart leap at the sight of him. Just as the part of her that was Marie loved Logan, the part of her that was Carol loved St. John. He'd always been there for her. After the car accident when everyone else avoided her, he'd gone out of his way to help. He'd been by her side throughout the physical therapy, and never doubted or judged her.

When he saw her, standing next to Logan, his face turned into a relieved smile and he stepped forward, hugging her tightly.

"Oh, Carol," he said, "I didn't know. You left before I could see you. I didn't want you to leave. I'm so glad you're back."


	25. Chapter 25

**By Ally**

* * *

Rogue hugged St. John back, but with less enthusiasm than Carol might have. He noticed this and pulled away, frowning at her.

"Carol? Are you okay? Where were you, anyway?" he asked in a rush.

Rogue took a deep breath, glanced at Logan, whose face was clouded with confusion and the beginnings of anger, and said to St. John, "Johnny, I'm not Carol. I'm Rogue."

She expected his reaction, but it still hurt her when he took a few steps back. His eyes were full of hurt and accusations.

Rogue didn't let St. John have a chance to ask any more questions, though. She still had some to answer. "Carol was going to join up with Magneto. He promised her protection from Logan, maybe even from me. I managed to regain control of my body during the last few days we were with Magneto. Carol's not dead, Johnny, not really. She sort of-integrated herself into me. And she taught me how she controlled my mutation. That's what she did. Everyone thought that I didn't exist anymore, I know, because Carol was able to touch, but she just found the controls to my power before I did. Probably because she was an outsider. Anyway, Logan and Jubes showed up, and we defeated Magneto, Mystique and, I hope, Sabertooth." Rogue managed to get all of this out in two breaths, with barely a pause between them. She clenched her hands into tight fists, waiting for St. John's reply.

"Where's Jubes now?" St. John asked warily. He ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit that she-Carol, anyway-had always thought was so adorable.

"She's in the Medlab. Jean's having to perform surgery on her because she suffered a pretty bad head injury. Jean spouted a lot of technical stuff that I didn't quite understand, but I did get the blood clots in the brain part of it," Rogue said quietly. She stepped forward and put her hand on St. John's arm. "Jubes'll need us all to be strong for her right now, Johnny. You know her friends are all she's got. Don't be angry with me for taking back what was mine, not if it'll damage so many of the friendships around this old house," she pleaded sincerely, her eyes full of tears.

St. John turned his back to her. "I'll try, Rogue. But...I can't promise anything. I loved Carol. I don't know what I'll do without her. I...I have to think about this." He walked quickly down the hall, not looking back once.

Rogue watched him go, wanting to die because she'd broken his heart, yet hers was just fine. "He was one of Carol's closest friends. One of mine, too, before the accident. I don't want to lose him, Logan," she said, turning to face the man who'd brought her back. What she saw in his face nearly made her gasp. There was raw rage there, with pain and sadness mixed in.

"You've got a life here, Rogue. You loved him, or some part of you did, and you always will. I guess my job's done," Logan said. He walked away from her, in the direction opposite the one St. John had taken.

Rogue knew where he was headed, and suddenly it was too much. The tears she'd been holding back spilled. She stretched out her hand towards Logan's retreating back and croaked out the words, "Please, don't leave me like all of my other friends. Please, Logan!"

Logan couldn't take the complete desolation in Rogue's voice. She may not have been his Marie, but she was a woman who knew him better than any other, and she needed him. He turned back and walked over to where she'd slumped down onto the floor, her forehead pressed against her knees.

"Rogue..." he began, then he stopped, unable to find the words. He simply sat down beside her and put his arms around her, offering all of the comfort and love that he could give.

* * *

Later, Rogue was never sure how long they sat like that, sharing in the grief and the pain. After a few minutes of sobbing she began to feel numb on the inside, as if all of her emotions had been drained out and she was left with nothing.

They must have stayed like that for hours, though, because her next concious realization was that Jean was standing in front of them, her face grim. Rogue struggled to her feet, Logan supporting her as he, too, stood.

"I managed to remove the hematoma and drain the excess fluid in her brain. She's in the ICU at the moment. I...I'm not sure if she'll make it, Rogue. If you'd like, you can go down and see her. Don't go in, mind you. Only through the glass," Jean cautioned, then she disappeared down the hall, muttering about coffee.

Rogue looked at the door to the elevator, suddenly not wanting to go down and face what was waiting for her. Logan's strong arm around her waist pulled her towards it anyway.

"C'mon, darlin'. You need to see her, even if you don't think you want to," he said, leading her into the elevator.

It amazed Rogue that he could still read her like that, know what her emotions were and try to soothe her. Maybe there was hope yet.

They walked down the hall to the ICU together, their footsteps echoing in the empty hallway. With each step, Rogue felt the guilt dragging her down, making her less willing to see the friend who'd always been there for her, no matter who she was.

Finally, they reached the ICU observation window. It took Rogue a moment to look up from the steele frame to see the patient lying in the austere room.


	26. Chapter 26

**By Khaki**

* * *

Rogue couldn't believe that it was Jubilee lying past that window. This was not the vibrant young woman who'd become her friend. She lay motionless except for the mechanical rising and falling of her chest as the ventilator kept her alive. Her skin was drawn and so pale that the pallor almost matched the white sheets surrounding her.

In spite of the head bandages, Rogue could see that about half of her scalp had been shaved for the surgery. Jubilee, who'd always been proud of her appearance, would be furious. She'd probably demand that Jean shave her hair off, too. Either that, or she'd declare the look to be extremely fashionable and half the girls in the school would shave their heads so they could be as cool as her. Of course, she had to wake up first.

Rogue had expected to feel sad, guilty,... something when she saw Jubilee. She only felt numb. All the crying she'd done in Logan's arms had left her feeling empty. His presence had been welcome at the time, but now, she just wanted to be alone.

She turned and went towards the elevator, and this time, Logan followed her upstairs. He walked her to her room and then, after a few parting words of reassurance and solace, he retired to his own room.

Rogue laid down on her bed, but despite her weariness, she couldn't find escape in sleep. It was only around 6 in the evening, and her mind was too active. She wanted to go up on the roof to think, but then again, she also wanted to sit on her favorite bench, or maybe just walk through the woods. She decided to combine all those comforting things into one, flying out her window towards the woods lining the property.

Picking a nice large tree, she found a place to sit in the uppermost branches. Here, she was high enough to see for miles, but also surrounded by the calming smells of nature and the sounds of students playing on the grounds after dinner. She could feel her body relaxing, even though the hard, nobby branch wasn't the most comfortable seat.

Swinging her legs, she started picking at the bark of the branch absentmindedly as she thought about everything that'd happened to her over the past few years. Talk about an identity crisis. She wondered if people with multiple personality disorder had the same experiences. Did Sybil find it confusing when her personalities had been amalgamated?

In many ways, Rogue felt like a newborn. She had the knowledge and memories of several different people, but no real preferences or opinions of her own. Right now, if someone asked her something as simple as what her favorite color was, she wouldn't have been able to answer.

Not only did she have her own confusion to deal with, though, she'd dragged her loved ones down with her. St. John, Logan, and especially Jubilee. She just had to be ok. If anything was seriously wrong with her, if she'd never be the same again,...

Rogue felt anguish rising within her and transforming into rage. She punched her hands into the branch she sat on and the trunk she leaned against in impotent anger. Jubes shouldn't have to suffer like this. She shouldn't have to pay such a steep price for their friendship. As she punched, kicked and hit the tree, small cuts and abrasions appeared on her knuckles and healed just as quickly as the bit of Logan's and Sabretooth's healing factors she'd incorporated into herself took effect.

When she finally stopped, there were several large dents and splinters in the wood where her strength had damaged it. The branch itself shuddered under her, threatening to break off. Less than a minute later, it did, plunging to the forest floor far below. Rogue stayed where she was, floating where the branch had been, staring at her bloodied but healed hands and the damaged trunk.

She had a healing factor. She could heal and could control her absorbing touch. Was it possible? Could she...

Rogue flew back to the mansion and hurried to the lower levels, thankfully not running into anyone on the way. Jubilee lay exactly as she'd been an hour before, only this time, Rogue didn't remain at the window. She walked through the doors and into the ICU room.

Gently picking up Jubilee's limp arm in her bare hand, she whispered, "Hey, Jubes. I'm gonna try something and I think it might work. All you have to do is take what I give you, ok? Just... just try."

Closing her eyes, breathing deeply and evenly, Rogue focused inward. She concentrated on the healing agents running through her veins, the transference power tingling along every inch of her skin. When she felt ready, she acted. Using her control, she tried to reverse the pull of her skin and push Jubilee into healing.


	27. Chapter 27

**By Ally**

* * *

Jean kept an eye on the Medlab's ICU even as she made herself coffee and a sandwich and began to eat. If anything went wrong, she wanted to be the first to know about it.

Jean's mind wandered over the events of the last few hours. Rogue-not Carol anymore-had flown into the mansion's dining hall without bothering to open the large, beautifully wrought French doors. Well, those wouldn't be too hard to replace. Then, barely noticing her healing cuts from the glass, Rogue had told them the short version of the story. Carol had been with Magneto, then Rogue had gained control and integrated Carol into herself. She, Jubilee and Logan had fought Magneto and his scum, and now Jubilee was lying on the ground somewhere in northern New York State, seizing and unconscious.

It had taken barely five minutes for the team to be ready to go. Not bothering with uniforms, they'd jumped into the Blackbird and headed for the site using Rogue's memory as navigation.

Jean had worked hard to save Jubilee from the moment she'd entered the plane. The doctor in her wasn't sure that the young woman would make it, but the woman and friend in her hoped beyond hope that she would. Perhaps there was something in the human psyche that held onto hope at all costs, Jean pondered wistfully.

A disturbance in the ICU caught her attention. Someone was in there with Jubilee, and her mental senses were very confused as to who it was. She didn't detect danger to Jubilee, but the person with her was another story.

Jean rushed down to the lower levels, doors opening for her, the elevator going down at nearly break-neck speed. Then she was at the ICU. What she saw through the window should have surprised her, but it didn't.

Rogue was holding onto Jubilee, skin against skin, and for once it wasn't the other person who was being drained. Rogue's skin was white as Jubilee's had been when Jean had last seen her, but Jubilee's glowed with health. Whatever Rogue was doing, it seemed to be working.

Jean couldn't let it go on, of course. She ran into the room and grabbed hold of Rogue's arms, pulling her away. Thankfully, Rogue was too shocked and weak to fight her. She wouldn't have been able to handle the strength the younger woman now possessed if it had been unleashed on her.

"Dammit, Rogue! What did you do?" Jean asked, now supporting her. Jubilee's eyes fluttered, and tears streamed from Rogue's.

"I gave her what she needed. I wasn't sure if I could, but I did! But now...I feel so sick, Jean. Please, can I lie down?" Rogue asked pitifully.

Jean put aside her professional curiosity long enough to get Rogue into the other bed in the ICU. She checked on Jubilee, who was conscious now but in no state to do more than open her eyes and then shut them quickly. Vital signs were more than stable, and the trauma she'd gone through seemed to be almost completely healed.

Deciding that she'd get no answers now from Rogue, who had cried herself to sleep within minutes, Jean sat down to wait. It never occurred to her to tell anyone else what had just happened.

* * *

**A/N: Just one more three-chapter update to go! See you all next weekend!**


	28. Chapter 28

**By Khaki**

* * *

Logan paced his bedroom, stopping at his door he didn't know how many times, but never opening it. He wanted to walk down the hall to Rogue's room. He wanted to talk, to comfort her like he had before, but he wasn't sure he should.

Those hours with her in his arms during Jubilee's surgery... it was just like his Marie was back again. She'd clung to him, crying in his arms until her tears ran dry. Even then, she'd stayed close, not moving until hours later when Jean came out into the hallway after finishing the surgery.

When she'd seen Jubilee through the glass window to the ICU, Rogue completely changed before his eyes. She'd moved away from him and straightened her posture, closing off all her emotions until her face was unreadable.

Without a word, she turned and left. Logan followed her upstairs, knowing she was upset but unsure what to do. When they reached her bedroom door, empty brown eyes met his and she told him she needed some time alone, needed to rest. The door shut in his face and he heard the click of the lock before he had a chance to say anything.

"Rogue?"

"Please, Logan," she said through the door. "I'm just... I need to sleep."

"Darlin', it's not your fault. None of this is your fault, and Jubes is gonna be just fine. You'll see. She loves to do the unexpected."

"Logan..." she started, and then sighed as if she'd changed her mind. "Thanks. Good night."

It was a dismissal and he knew it. He didn't want to leave her door, but he wanted to run into the other mansion residents and be attacked with questions about Carol, Rogue, and Jubilee even less so he retreated to his room.

In the time he and Rogue had sat in the hallway during Jubilee's surgery, he'd pretty much healed from his Magneto-inflicted injuries, so he really didn't feel tired. Instead of going to bed, he paced and thought and sulked.

He should've never let Jubilee come with him. It's not like he couldn't have lost her on Cyke's bike. The supercharger could've gotten him so far ahead of her that she'd never catch up. There's no way she could've tracked Carol on her own. It was all his fault that she ended up a prisoner of Magneto's, all his fault that she was downstairs dying right now.

There was no question to him that she wouldn't survive the night. Her heartbeat and the sickly smell he could pick up even through the closed ICU doors gave her condition away. He'd seen death before, too many times not to recognize the signals.

Suddenly, he really needed a drink. Chuck probably had some good stuff in the liquor cabinet downstairs. Logan figured he could sneak downstairs and back up to his room without running into too many people.

He left his room and walked down the hallway, stopping in front of the one he'd seen Rogue enter only a few hours before. How would she react when Jubilee succumbed to her injuries? She'd acquired some of his senses. Did she already know or suspect what would happen?

As he stood in front of her door, he realized something was wrong. He couldn't hear her in there. No heartbeat, no breathing, just a light whispering of wind. Before he realized it, he'd slashed through the lock and stepped into the room. It was empty. The bed had been disturbed, but he could tell from the smell of it that Rogue hadn't been in it for hours. The window was open and her scent lead out of it.

Dammit! Carol'd lied. She'd never given him Marie back. She'd tricked him into coming back here, probably trying to save Jubilee, and then she'd flown off with Marie's body again. Well, he wasn't gonna let her get away.


	29. Chapter 29

**By Ally**

* * *

Logan ran out of Rogue's room and down stairs, ignoring the startled stares of the students watching movies and hanging out in the rec area. He caught a glimpse of Jean rushing into the elevator to the lower levels. The doors closed just as he reached them, and he waited impatiently for them to acknowledge the hand he slammed against the controls. After what seemed like an hour, the wood rolled aside and metal doors slid open to reveal the empty elevator. Logan growled as he entered and commanded it to go down to the medlab.

The hall from the elevator to the ICU unit was short, but it had never seemed longer to Logan, not even during his first disoriented visit in the medlab. He knew that Jean would be willing to help him find Rogue. He no longer trusted Chuck to be straight with him where Carol was concerned, but Jean would be. He'd find some way to persuade her to look for Rogue as soon as whatever had drawn her down here was settled.

The door to the ICU was open, and Logan's urgent stride slowed. Jubilee. She'd been stable; what had happened? Logan felt worry for his unlikely friend build inside of him. She wasn't Marie, but he couldn't afford to lose any friends, not when he had so few. He picked up his pace again.

The sight that met him as he entered the ICU hit him like a punch to the gut. Despite the bandages, Jubilee actually looked better than she had since before they left the mansion weeks before. The same couldn't be said for the other woman lying on the bed next to her. Jean worked diligently over the second body, hooking up an IV line.

"Rogue!" he snarled. "Jean, what the hell happened?"

"I'm not sure," Jean replied in her calm voice. "I think that Rogue figured out a way to reverse her mutation. Somehow, she gave Jubilee the healing abilities she absorbed from you and Sabertooth."

Jean's lack of panic, not to mention that she was actually taking the time to put the situation into simple terms that didn't make him want to strangle her to get a straight answer, told him that Rogue's decision hadn't been fatal. He wasn't sure what he thought about it, though. She shouldn't be going around risking her life like that on a guess. He was sure that was all it had been, too. A wild hunch born out of whatever craziness had resulted from her complete absorption of Carol.

"She's going to be okay?" Logan asked, stalking forward to stand on the other side of this woman he'd once thought he knew, someone who was now almost stranger to him than when she was only Carol.

Jean glanced up at him. She pushed a piece of her red hair behind her ear and smiled tiredly. "I think they both will be, in a day or so," she said, and he heard the relief in her voice.

Logan nodded. "I'll stay here with them," he told her. "You go get some sleep. You look like you need it."

Jean shook her head and shot him a small glare. "Thanks," she said drily as she straightened from bending over to check on Rogue's vital signs. Then she sighed and rubbed the small of her back. "I think you're right, though. I've spent too many hours over patients today. I never thought I'd say that, back when I first dreamed of being a doctor."

Logan didn't reply as she headed out the door and closed it softly behind her. He just sat in the chair at the end of the two beds and settled in for a long wait.


	30. Chapter 30

**By Ally**

* * *

Rogue felt as if her eyes were glued shut. She tried to open them, with little success at first. Finally, she managed to pry open one lid. The sight that met her straining eye was a surprising one, although perhaps it shouldn't have been.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey, yourself," Logan replied. He rose from the chair he'd been lounging in and came to stand beside her. Rogue felt a little disappointed when he made no move to take her hand.

"That was kind of a dumb thing you did, you know," he stated bluntly, his eyes betraying the fact that he'd been worried. "You should have told us what you wanted to do. You could have pushed everything into Jubilee and left nothing for yourself."

Rogue glanced over at the bed beside her, but it was empty. She felt her face go pale, but before she could make herself ask the question, Logan's hand on her arm stopped her.

"She's fine. Jean let her go up to her room to rest an hour ago," he told her. His lips quirked up in a half-smirk. "Actually, Jean had to order her not to leave her room for at least one full day. Jubes didn't take that very well, but I think she might listen."

"Maybe," Rogue said. She was unable to think of anything else to add, so she sat up. The tug on her arm as she moved caused her to look down at the unfamiliar sight of an IV line stuck in her skin. It had been a long time since she'd needed one of those. The last time had been when Carol was still recovering from the accident…

"You both took a while to wake up," Logan was saying after a momentary silence. "Must have been a result of whatever it was you did."

Rogue knew that he was fishing for details, but she didn't feel like talking about it yet. "How long was I out?" she asked instead.

"A day. Not too bad, all things considered. I can get you some dinner, if you're hungry," he said hesitantly.

Rogue's lips curved up at this sign that he wasn't sure how to handle things between them, any more than she was. He didn't know if she even wanted him around. Did she? Would it be easier to forget everything that had happened from that moment on and just start life again, no strings attached from the past to hold her down?

Looking from where Logan's hand now covered her own to the concern and doubt in his eyes, Rogue knew the answer to that. The past may have been behind her, but there was no way she could turn her back on it. She wasn't able to forget it all and start over, and for the second time since her mutation had manifested all those years ago, she felt sure that a decision was both completely hers and completely right. She turned her hand over in his and squeezed his fingers carefully, letting her smile widen.

"How about you get me out of this joint, and we go scrounge up something to eat together? I bet you haven't had anything in a while, either," she said. The hope that lit his eyes was enough to make the frozen part of her heart melt. Just like that, he had taken the numbness away, just as he had done so much else for her in their brief history.

"I think that sounds like a plan," he said. She knew that he wasn't just talking about the dinner, any more than she had been.

* * *

**A/N: Dear readers, we have reached the end. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing this together oh, so many years ago. If you did, please leave a review! I'd love to know what you think.**


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